Digimon: Divine Journey, Book One: Greener Grass
by Ayanna Wildfire
Summary: A different Digital World with a different set of heros facing the same old problem. But the question is, will they be able to work with each other and their Digimon or will evil win the day?
1. The Arrival

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Disclaimer: We do not own Digimon, nor any of the recognizable characters of the show. We do own the original characters that we have created and ask that anyone who wished to use those characters ask us first.

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Authors' Notes: 

Blackbird: This story is based around an original set of Digidestined, or Digi-Tamers as we affectionately call them. Now most people probably won't like it's based around OCs and if you do have a problem with it...don't care! Hahahaha! We're gonna keep writing it! So you can go off and read the plethora of fics involving your precious canon chars. Now for those with an open enough mind to accept that people CAN write stories based on OCs read it and we hope you enjoy. And don't worry most of the Digimon will be one's we've seen before, but not exactly like the other ones. That will be made clearer in later chapters.

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Ayanna Wildfire: Now that my Co-Author has had his say, I ask those who do read our fic, please if you like our mention it to others. If you don't like it, please keep an open mind, we are trying to be original. 

Enjoy the fic!

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In a realm between two worlds, a lone figure watched as one of the worlds, the she held most dear, was slowly consumed by a growing darkness. Despite the best efforts of this world's champions, the darkness continued to spread and threatened to wipe out all that was good and decent from that world. She could no longer stand idly by and watched as this happened. It was time to take action. And if the champions from this world could not help, then it was time to look elsewhere. Yes, it was time to enact the prophecy. She just hoped the warriors would be ready. For if they were not...then all was lost. 

Ray Morelli stared intently through the tinted lenses of his goggles at the panel laying on the workshop in front of him. He had to make sure he welded it and the other panel together just perfectly or the entire days worth of work would be shot. He lit the small torch and slowly, carefully began to bring it down to the pieces of metal. Carefully, carefully. Almost there. Just a bit more. 

"Ray it's time for dinner!" his mom voice suddenly broke though his concentration. 

The young, brown hair man let out a shriek of surprise and juggled the small torch in his hands to keep it from falling on top of his work and possibly starting a fire. When he finally got control of it, he turned it off and let out a sigh of relief. He then reached over and pressed the "talk" button on the intercom connecting his room to the rest of the house. 

"Alright mom. I'll be there in a couple of minutes," he told her. 

"You better actually mean that his time mister," was the reply. 

" I do."

He let out another sigh as he let go of the button and leaned back in his chair, glancing down at his work in vain. He would just have to get back to work on it later. Crossing his mom wasn't the best idea. Especially considering all the leeway she had given him about his "room" and taking a year off before going to college. He pulled his goggles up to his forehead and absently ran a hand through his shaggy light brown hair. He spun his chair around and looked at his room. The term room didn't seem quite right since it was really a combination of his room and workshop that use to be a garage that was separated from the house. Ironically enough, the former owners had built it so that the garage that was attached to the house could be made into a room. But once he had started his inventing ways he knew he was going to need more room so he had worked out a deal with his father to change that room back into a garage and turn the garage into his room-slash-workshop. His mom hadn't been too thrilled about it but she finally relented and they began work. It was actually a nice father/son bonding experience. Of course his mom still wanted to be able to talk to him without having to walk out of the house all the time so he had built in an intercom system between the house and his room. The bad news was it let her chime in anytime she wanted just as she did now, but fortunately she and his dad left him alone for the most part. 

He pulled himself out of his chair and stood up with a stretch. Subconsciously he began to dust off his clothes then realized that he was still in his "work" clothes. They were essentially of worn out, dirty clothes with a tool belt and a fisherman's vest over it. Of course instead of various tackles and bait he had tools, nuts and bolts and whatever else he could fit into it and his belt. It might have seemed like overkill to some, but it was the best way to keep what he needed on hand when he was working. Though they weren't very good for wearing to the dinner table and after today's amount of work he definitely wasn't in the mood to hear his mom complain about it again. 

He started to walk over to his dresser to get something clean when a beep from his computer drew his attention. He looked over at it to see his screensaver had gone down and something was currently trying to download itself onto his desktop. 

"The hell?" He asked walking over to it. "This shouldn't be happening. I have a ton of anti-virus programs on this thing and I KNOW no hacker can get past *my* firewalls. So then...what is this?" 

He placed his hands on the keyboard in preparation to do some serious retaliation type when something suddenly popped up on his screen. It looked almost like a Windows Media Player window but with some kind of strange writing on it that he couldn't make out. Subconsciously he moved the pointer over to one of the buttons and clicked it. The screen then erupted into a blindly white light that seemed to envelop him. He tried to scream but his voice failed him, as did his legs when he tried to run. Fortunately, there was no pain at all just a general feeling of numbness before the world of white around him faded to black. 

Rebecca was having a bad day. First her new nylons ripped, then as she was searching for another pair, she stubbed her toe on her bed leg. When she had finally gotten dressed, she realized she didn't have enough time to eat breakfast. She had almost forgotten her keys as she rushed out the door to make it to the bus stop, just as the bus was pulling away.

She ended up being late for her first class and as the teacher had a rule, missed it completely. When she had found someone to copy notes off of, she soon realized that she would have to decode the notes first as the person's hand writing was so poor. Rebecca then realized she had forgotten her money for lunch and had to borrow money from one of her friends.

When she finally got home, the dark skinned girl decided to try and relax by doing a tarot reading. As she shuffled her cards, her computer began to run by itself. Not really paying attention to the computer, Rebecca kept shuffling her cards until the computer beeped. at Rebecca's long dark hair flew as she turned quickly to look over at her computer.

"But I turned this off last night. How did it get turned back on?" Rebecca asked herself as she took the mouse and tried to close the program that was running, which when she looked closer didn't look like a program she owned.

Clicking the mouse on a button she hoped would close the program, a blinding light engulfed Rebecca. She tried to get away, but found that she was paralyzed. So with her tarot cards still in hand Rebecca's world shifted from blinding white to the blackness of unconsciousness.

Samantha Fairborne, or just Sam to her friends, grunted a bit as she strained to tighten the bolt tugged tightly in the grip of her wrench. She wanted to be sure that it would be tight enough to hold under pressure, but she didn't want it to be tight enough to crack anything. After all, she had just spent about a week working on improving her motorcycle and the last thing she need to do was put a crack in the engine because she got over zealous. She gave on last half twist then drew her tool back with a satisfied smile. She sighed as she wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her arm. 

"Alright, now that everything's finished, it's time to take this baby out for a test drive!" She proclaimed happily. 

She took time to change out of her work clothes and wash off some of the sweat and motor oil before getting to her neon green and black motorcycle bodysuit. She grabbed her helmet off the wall peg it usually hung from then walked into the garage. She paused in the doorway to take a moment to admire her "baby". Like her suit it was neon green and black and was the saying goes was "sleek and sexy". Also like her she thought with a smirk. The bike itself had been a gift from her parents when she graduated high school a few years back. She had instantly fallen in love with it and promised to keep it in good condition. 

And boy did she ever stick to that promise. Not only did she do constant maintainence on it, but she also made frequent improvements on it such as powering up the engine, reinforcing the suspension and tires and just about anything else that she could think of and/or afford. The improvements where mostly to make sure the thing didn't fall apart from all the crazy stunts she liked to do. She knew she really shouldn't put it through that kind of stress but it was a sports bike after all and it was just crying out to be driven hard. And that's just what she planned to do right now. 

She slipped her helmet on, snapped the chinstrap, flipped down the visor and walked over to the resting beast. She ran her hand along the seat then patted the small hood fondly. 

"You ready to have some fun tonight baby?" She cooed. 

She was about to get on the seat when a beep from her computer caught her attention. She let out a small curse before flipping up the visor to her helmet and walking over to the computer. Why she put this thing out here she never knew. Maybe it was so she could work on her bike and check a few things out online at the same time. Or maybe it was so she could look up parts she needed for it and have it near her for a quick reference. Or maybe she was just an idiot. Whatever the reason, right now it was being a royal pain. She bent over to stare at the monitor to see what it was doing. What she saw was a strange looking window that she knew wasn't there before. When she tried to close it she was rewarded with an error sound. She growled and tried again and this time the response was a flash of blinding white light. She pulled out her visor down out of instinct, but the light still leaked through the tinted glass. She stumbled backwards as the light seemed to encompass her entire garage. The last thing she remember was bumping into her motorcycle and laying her hand on the seat before everything changed from white to black. 

Jennifer was running around looking for the last of her camping supplies. Her Dad was going to be there to pick her up any minute. This was going to be the last time she got to go camping with him, before she left for her new job. After having spent the last 5 years in university, getting out into the real world seemed like a great adventure for Jennifer.

Her blue eyes wandered the room as she tucked a stand of her chin length black hair behind her ear. Her tall frame moved carefully through her things as she doubled check that she had everything she wanted. 

"Blanket? Check. Clothes? Check. Hiking boots? Check. Rations for Dad's supper? Check! First aid kit? Yep it's in there. I know something's missing....what is it? ...YEAAAAAAH!" Jennifer yelled as her cat Trigger batted her foot with his claws.

As soon as Jennifer was able to get her heart beating at a normal rate, she scolded Trigger for scaring her and shooed him out of the room. Grabbing her jacket and her fingerless gloves, she was about to leave when her computer beeped.

"I'm sure I had turned that off....Oh well, I'll leave another message for my friends so they don't' forget I'll be gone." Jennifer said as she carried her stuff over to the computer and clicked to get to her internet connection. As she did, and unfamiliar window popped up. And when she tried to close it, a bright light flashed out form the computer. In the blink of an eye, Jennifer and her camping gear were gone.

Seconds later Jennifer's doorbell rang several times before the person outside left.

Jon McCloud let out a sigh as he flipped through the mail in his hands. Phone bill, couple things from the university, and coupons for one of the many pizza places in town. Nothing too bad, but nothing great either. Especially that bill. It wasn't that he couldn't pay it, it was just going to stretch his funds thin this month. It was his own fault he knew, but college life was expensive. Couldn't waste perfectly good, hard-earned money one just bills and rent. Oh well, it wasn't due for a couple of weeks now so we'd have plenty of time to send it in. 

After fumbling a bit with his keys, he slid the one for the main door to his apartment, unlocked it and stepped inside. It wasn't all that big, had some damage from the previous owner, the bedroom itself was the size of a closet, and it was overpriced. He overlooked all that, however, due to one simple fact: it was all his. No parents, no brother, not even any roommates. Just him by himself. Not that he was antisocial or anything, he just needed some place he could call his own. A place where he could be alone with his thoughts and relax after a hard day of school and work. 

He laid his mail down on the coffee table then switched on the TV and flipped through the channels a bit before settling on a movie he had seen a few times before. He then walked over to the computer desk, turned off the screensaver, plugged the phone line into the jack on his laptop and started the process to get online. It was times like this he wished he could have a cable modem or something else like that, but it was just too much money. Besides, his laptop could only support the phone line so to even think about getting anything else would require getting a card for it, which in turn would require more money. So that wasn't an option for the foreseeable future. He could make due with the internet he had for the moment. He could always find ways to keep himself amused while it was connecting. 

It was with this thought in mind that he walked into his bedroom, reached under the bed and pulled out one of his prized positions. It was a samurai sword he had gotten last year before moving into this apartment. Technically he wasn't suppose to have it here since it was a weapon, but what the people in charge didn't know didn't hurt him. He smiled as he held it up. Even though he had had it for over a year now, the craftsmanship that went into the handle and the blade itself still amazed him. In that respect he felt bad about using it to basically goof around with but it was just too much fun. And he had gotten quite good at some of the moves. He walked back out into the living room and was about to unsheathe it to start his usual practice moves when his computer made a beeping sound. At first he thought it had connected to the net but when he glanced over at it he saw a window that he had never seen before. 

"Oh no. Please don't tell me there's a virus on this thing," he groaned as he walked over to the computer. 

He moved the cursor to try and shut it down but nothing seemed to work. He growled in frustration and was about to reboot the entire computer when a blinding flash filled his vision. The last thing he remembered was gripping his sheathed sword tighter before everything around him lost focus.

Alex grumbled as he kicked off his muddy shoes. It had started to rain just as his final class had ended and he had had to make a mad dash across the football field to get to his bus stop in time to catch the 3:50 bus. Ignoring the mess his shoes had made at the entryway, Alex made his way into he kitchen to see if there were and beers left in the fridge. He may not be legally able to drink yet, but having a roommate that was six months older than him and who WAS legal helped. Alex frowned when he didn't see any beers, grabbing a cola, he headed to the couch. Turning on the TV, Alex cursed when all he saw and heard was static. Turning the noise off, he moved over to where he had his computer set up. 

Alex turned the computer on and connected to the internet. Putting his Half-Life CD in, he started an online shooting frenzy.

"Take that Quezy! Ha! Right between the eyes! Oh you think you can get me do you Jester? Well take that! Ha! No one can beat 'The Great'!" Alex's shouts gradually got louder as he continued playing.

Just as he was about to take out another player an unfamiliar window came up over top of his game.   
" Hey! Get lost you stupid pop-up! Stupid thing, you made me die." Alex said as he heard the sound of his character's demise. Trying to close the window, so he could return to his game, Alex became frustrated when the window wouldn't close. 

Alex's roommate, Roger entered the apartment just as Alex clicked the last button on the window. "Alex...your shoes are a mess! You better clean this mud up cause I'm not!"

Roger was blinded by a bright light and when his vision returned, Alex was no longer in front of the computer. The only things that remained to remind Roger that he even had a roommate were a pair of muddy shoes and a few changes of dirty clothes.

Somewhere in the darkest depths of another world, blanketed in shadows wrapped clawed fingers against the arm of a throne impatiently. 

"Well?" It growled. 

"Reports of seven separate dimensional rips are coming in now sir," a smaller creature stated. 

The dark creature's serpentine lips twisted upward in a sadistic smile. "Excellent. Everything's proceeding just as I knew it would. Now that the barrier between worlds has been weakened it'll be easy to break through again. That is, of course, providing my personal strike team is looking through the ancient ruins." 

"They are indeed sir."

"Good. Soon, very soon now..."

"Uh...s-sir. Shouldn't we at least take some precautions incase these warriors turn out to be as dangerous to use as the legend says?"

"My precautions are my generals. They should be more than enough to deal with these 'warriors'. If not...well then they didn't deserve to be part of my army after all. No, I think we'll let this play out, as it should. It will be a great way for my generals and these warriors to prove themselves. And besides it should prove to be quite amusing."

Throughout the twisting, winding halls of a great, dark tower a horrorifingly sadistic and evil laughter could be heard echoing off the walls. 

Ray groaned as the world around him began to come into clarity again and he could feel the ground under him. Though his eyelids were closed he could still tell there was a blinding bright light shining down into them. When he cracked his eyelids opened he saw that this time it was the sun. He instinctively enclosed his eyes and forced himself to sit up, holding his head as he did so. He didn't know why his head hurt so much, he didn't remember any pain from whenever that...thing hit him. Or wrapped around him. Or...whatever it did. 

*What was that thing anyway?* he wondered. *Where did it come from? What did it do to me? And...where the hell am I?* 

He opened his eyes once more and fortunately didn't have them nearly burned out from some intense light. He found himself setting in the middle of a small clearing in a strange looking forest. The trees seemed to have grown at good angles and the leaves on them where like nothing he had ever seen before. Even the sun seemed to be slightly off. In fact the whole world seemed off. Something about it just didn't seem...natural. He shrugged off those thoughts and picked himself up then dusted off his clothes. As he did so he felt something in what he was sure was an empty pocket on his belt. He reached into it and pulled out a strange looking device. It looked similar to a cell phone, but there were a few buttons on the side that he could no idea what they could do. He stared at it for a moment before he rolled it in his hand to thoroughly examine it. 

"I don't get it. Doesn't look like there's any welding seems. So then how could anyone have put this thing together?" He asked himself. "More importantly how can I take it apart? Maybe I got something here that could crack this baby open."

He began to dig through his tool belt for anything that might prove useful in taking apart the bright red colored device in his hand when it began to beep loudly and the small screen began to glow. When he turned it over he found a message that simply read "Find the others" with an arrow pointing north. 

"'Find the others'?" He read aloud. "What others? What is this thing some kind of compass?" 

He quirked an eyebrow and was about to continue this quest for the right tool when he felt the device begin to pull him towards where the arrow had been pointing. He let out a few startled noises before falling in step with the pull. 

"Alright, alright, I'm going. But I'm not done with you," he threatened.

Alex woke up with a splitting headache, and he knew he hadn't been drunk so it couldn't have been a hangover. Opening his eyes a bit, Alex winced at the bright light that still surrounded him. Grumbling as he pushed himself off the ground, he rolled over onto his back, and almost into a stream that he hadn't realized was there. Opening his eyes again, Alex shaded his eyes with a hand. Looking around he noticed the river and how close he was to it. Moving away from the river, Alex found a tree and leaned up against it. 

"Where the hell AM I? And where the hell are my shoes?" He yelled to no one.

Taking another look around, Alex noticed how false everything looked, how everything looked like it was plastic or some other material, anything but what it should be. 

"Who the hell put me in Disneyland?"

Groaning at the pain in his head, Alex closed his eyes and tried to think of a way to make the pain stop. Coming up with no ideas, he hit the ground with a fist. The pain he felt just added to the torment he was feeling in his head.

"Ok, I'm not dreaming....I'm in too much pain to be dreaming. What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Alex asked himself. It was then that something started beeping in his shirt pocket. Alex pulled out a blue cell phone, or what looked like a cell phone. He stared at it for a bit then opened the cover on it to see a screen telling him to find the others, then a compass appeared pointing towards the East.

"I have a cell phone? Since when? Others...what others? What the hell IS all this? And how the hell am I suppose to walk anywhere without shoes?"

On the forest floor, a lone figure laid motionless. Save for the faint rise and all of his chest, it would look to the rest of the world that he was dead. The area around him was silent, as if in reprieve for this young man's premature demise. The silence was broken suddenly when he sat up with a large gasp. He breathed heavily for a moment as the sense of vertigo passed over him. He stood up and looked himself over. Before...whatever that thing was that got him, he barely had time to take off his black trench coat, which now felt slightly uncomfortable in the heat of the forest. He also noticed his sword lying next to him on the ground. He picked it up and unsheathed it to look for any cracks or scratches on it. When he was satisfied that there were not he resheathed it and tucked it between his belt and pants. It was an odd fit and it good a big of fumbling around with this coat to get into a comfortable position. 

"Guess it'll have to do for now," he shrugged. "So then, where to go from here?"

He then noticed a beeping sound coming from his coat pocket. He reached in and pulled out what looked like a black cell phone with a message on it. 

"Others? There are others here?" He wondered as an arrow pointing West appeared on the screen. "Hmmm...weird, cryptic message and an arrow pointing to a far of direction. Now in every movie and TV show I've ever seen this always leads to trouble and I should be smart and just ignore it. But since I'm NOT smart and I don't have anything better to do I'll follow this thing and hope for the best."

He held the strange device out ahead of him and followed to where it was leading him. After walking through a rather rough patch of roots and shrubbery he finally heard the sounds of running water and someone talking to themselves. He dropped the device back into his pocket and rested his hand on his sword handle. He stopped for a moment to think about what he was going through his mind. 

*What am I doing? It's not like I actually know how to use this thing. Couldn't hurt I suppose but if they're any good at fighting I'm pretty well screwed,* he thought in dismay. *Oh well we call gotta die sometime.* 

He walked through the final bit of shrubbery to find another young man lying down near the stream. 

"Hey there," he called out.

"GAH!" Alex yelled as he jumped up and promptly fell in the water of the river. 

Jon couldn't help but laugh at the situation then walked over to the other man and offered his hand to help him up. 

"Sorry about that," he apologized.

"Who the HELL are you?" Alex asked, slightly wary of this guy who just showed up out of nowhere. Alex considered taking the guy's hand, but decided to try and climb out of the river himself.

Jon stared at his hand for a moment before shrugging and placing it at his side. 

"I'm Jon McCloud. Of the Clan McCould," he chuckled a bit at that last part. "Sorry, can never help myself with that."

Alex pushed himself onto the bank of the river and stood there with rivulets of water running off him. He was almost thankful that it hot, his clothes would surely dry faster. But if the weather was anything like this place, he thought, he'd never be dry.

"A Highlander junkie? Let me guess, you have a sword under that trench coat, don't ya?" Alex sneered at Jon.

"Yep," he replied, pulling his coat to the side a bit to reveal the sheathed sword. "Also have long hair," he added, pulling his ponytail up a bit. "Got into the show a few years ago. Couldn't help it really, it was a good show and the main character kinda had my last name."

"Well hurray for you. First, Disneyland, and now the freak shows."

"And Mr. Cheerful to boot. Though unless the jokes of Disney abducting people have come true, I'm guessing this isn't Disneyland. That or it's EuroDisneyland."

"Like I care. I'm not where I want to be and that would be killing idiots in Half-life. So excuuuse me, if I'm not all happy about being kidnapped by some strange alien light." Alex growled at Jon, annoyed that Jon seemed to not even care that he had been taken from his home.

"Hey it wasn't on my list of things to do today either. But we're here and there's nothing really we can do about it. Expect follow this thing," the longhaired man replied, pulling out the cell phone like device.

"So you got one of those crazy things too? You must be one of the 'others' this stupid thing is telling me about. Great, I have find more people like the sword-wielding freak. Can my life get any worse? Oh yeah, I have no shoes...." Alex said mostly to himself.

"Well that sounds like a personal problem."

Before any thing else could be said between the two, their devices beeped once more as another message appeared. 

~You have found one. Now find the rest,~ it read.

Again an arrow appeared after the message this time pointing southeast. Jon stared at it for a second then looked over to his present company. 

"Well guess we're on the move again," he commented.

"Oh hurrah, off to find more freaks."

"You really need to change your attitude"

"And you need to change the way you dress, freak-boy." Alex sneered at Jon.

"Least I have shoes."

"Fuck off, freak-boy."

"Oh I can tell this is going to be a REAL fun trip," Jon muttered.

In another part of the forest, a brown haired, goggle bearing young man trudged his way through the thick foliage and roots of the area. He muttered as he pushed another low hanging branch out of his way and again checked the compass on...whatever that thing was. 

"'Go find the others'," he repeated the message in a mocking voice. "Couldn't have given me more specifics directions than that, could you? Or at least have told me this forest was so friggin' big and full of roots and stuff. My feet are killing me! Hope I find some of these 'others' here soon."

He continued his trek through the rough patch of the woodlands before finally coming to a clearing. He heaved a grateful sigh then walked out to the middle of the clearing and collapsed back on the soft, rootless, grass. He looked up at the clear, blue sky and large, yellow, warm sun. He smirked a bit at how his current position was familiar similar to how he woke up in this world. He folded his arms behind his head and his brow furrowed as he continued that line of thinking. Somehow he had been pulled into this other world without any warning and he was supposes to find some "others", which he sincerely hoped meant other humans. But for what purpose? And what brought him here? More importantly how and when could he get home? When he was pulled here he was just about to have dinner with his mom and dad. They'd obviously think something was wrong when he didn't show up soon and then to find his room empty...what would they think? That he ran away? That someone kidnapped him? Well, that last one was actually true. He closed his eyes and let out a slow, remorseful breath. 

"So many questions and no answers in sight," he remarked. 

He laid there in silence for several minutes, taking in the sounds of the new world around him. They were so similar to his own world that it was hard to tell the difference. The wind calmly blowing through the trees, animals moving around in the forest, a far off streaming running somewhere, the loud roar of a motorcycle engine. Wait. The loud roar of a motorcycle engine?!

His eyes snapped open and he turned his head just in time to notice a black and neon green motorcycle barreling down on him. With a loud scream of surprise, he jumped up and rolled out of the way just in time to keep his head from being crushed by the thundering machine. When he stopped rolling he, he assumed a crouching position and looked up at the lunatic that had almost taken his head off. Although he couldn't see the face of the figure straddling the bike, the form fitting biker outfit made it painfully obvious that the rider was female. Unfortunately, since he was on an alien world that didn't guarantee that it was human. And if it wasn't...well what exactly was he supposed to do? He stared at the rider nervously as she revved the engine a few times before shutting the machine down and speaking. 

"You're human too, aren't you?" She asked. 

Ray blinked. "Uh...yeah."

The biker reached up and unclipped the chinstrap to her helmet then slowly removed the obtrusive object to reveal a human female face with short blonde hair and light green eyes. She smiled at him as she set her helmet on the tank of her bike. 

"So what's your name?" She asked. 

"Ray. Ray Morelli," he replied. "What's yours?"

"Samantha Fairborne, but you can just call me Sam. Never cared for my full name anyway," she replied with a small wave of her hand. 

"Alright. So how long have you been here?"

"I dunno...maybe half an hour. Not really sure. Let me guess you're zapped here in a beam of light from your computer then was told to find 'others' from this weird cell phone like thing?" 

Ray pulled out his own "cell phone" and held it up for her to see. 

"Yep," he answered. "Take you got one too?"

She nodded then unzipped a pocket on her outfit and produced a similar "phone" though this one was colored to match her bike and outfit. After the quick showing she placed it back in her pocket and turned her attention to him again. 

"You know I was beginning to think this thing sent me on a wild goose chase. Glad to see I was wrong," she said while she gave him a small smile. 

"Me too," he said back, unknowingly giving her a smile of his own. 

A seemingly eternity of silence passed between the two as the simply stared at one another. It was finally broken when Sam gave an obvious fake cough to gain his attention. 

"So then, should we go and see if we can find the rest?" She asked. 

"Uh...yeah. Wait, there are others?" Ray asked in confusion. 

As if to answer his question, his device began to beep and when he pulled it out again he found a message reading "You have found one. Now find the rest". He smirked and gave a cheerful shrug. 

"Well guess that answers that question," he chuckled. "So then...you got room on that thing for another?" 

"Sure do," she replied as she put her helmet back on and moved forward a bit to give him room. 

He walked over to bike then after a nervous gulp and some awkward movements he finally around a comfortable position that wasn't too embarrassing for either of them. He pulled his goggles down over his eyes and then wrapped his arms around her waist, careful to grab ONLY her waist. 

"Alright, you ready?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at him. 

"As I'll ever be," he replied. 

"Good. And as long as those hands stay there and you don't try anything funny we should be OK. Just hold on tight."

"But you just said..." he stopped and shook his head. "Never mind, let's just go."

She nodded then started up the bike again. After a few gratuitous revvings, she kicked it into gear and they quickly sped off. A little too quickly for Ray's taste. In fact, they seemed to be going a pretty break neck speed across a pretty uneven terrain. One that didn't seemed to be getting away smoother or safer. 

"Uh...you sure this is a good idea?" He asked over the roar of the engine. 

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" She asked back. 

"Cause we're in a forested area and I thought these things where only suppose to be used on a paved roads."

"Well they are, but I've made my own modifications to this baby so this terrain won't be any trouble at all!" 

"OK, but...shouldn't we at least slow down a little?!" 

"Probably!!" Sam shouted before speeding the bike up further. 

The relative silence of the forest was broken by two foreign sounds. One was the roar of a speeding sports bike and the other was the panicked scream of a young man. Unfortunately for the man, both sounds went unheeded by the forest's denizens. 

Rebecca had been walking for close to an hour, as close as she could figure. When she had woken up in this strange forest, she had found that there was a cell phone like device on a pocket in her skirt....one pocket of two that hadn't been there before. The device had beeped and when she had opened the cover, the message "Find the others" had appeared. Deciding to do as the strange cell phone said, Rebecca had started to walk. At one point she had heard what sounded like a motorcycle, but she had started walking the other way. There was no need to tempt fate by getting close enough to have a motorcycle run her over, her day had been bad enough without that.

Panic was spreading through Jennifer. The cell phone she had found in one of the pockets of her backpack kept beeping at her. She was trying not to draw attention to herself but every time she had stopped to try and hide from the noises in this strange forest, the cell phone beeped. After it had beeped for the twentieth time, Jennifer decided to try and make her way through the forest as quietly as her thumping hiking boots and clanking cooking pan would let her.

The rhythmic sounds of thumping and clanking soon reached Rebecca's ears. Slowing down, Rebecca tried to figure out where the sound was coming from, surely thumping and clanking was better than a motorcycle. Once she had determined what direction the sounds were coming from, Rebecca headed off that way.

Jennifer soon heard twigs breaking, Stopping for a second, she realized that whatever was breaking the twigs was coming closer, Jennifer tried to back up as quickly as she could, only to trip over a root she had just avoided. Rebecca hurried faster thru the brush after she heard the sound of something falling to the ground. Quickly getting back to her feet, Jennifer slipped off her backpack and got ready to swing it at whatever was now running through the brush. As Rebecca broke through into the small clearing that Jennifer was in she was nearly hit by Jennifer's backpack. Jennifer pulled the bag back at the last second, ending up on the ground yet again as the momentum of the backpack threw her off-balance.

"Oh...are you alright? That bag looks heavy." Rebecca said as she tried to help Jennifer up.

"WHO are YOU?" Jennifer asked as she tried to get away from Rebecca.

"I'm Rebecca Graves. I think I'm suppose to be looking for you."

"YOU'RE one of the others this cell phone thing keeps beeping about?" Jennifer asked, not wanting to believe that one of the others had found her so quickly.

"You mean this thing?" Rebecca asked as she pulled out her purple cell phone device. "Mine told me to find the others as well."

Just them the two devices beeped and a new message appeared on the screen. "Find the rest? There's MORE people here?" Jennifer cried out.

"Looks like it. Shall we go? I heard a motorcycle a while back, if we head in that general direction we might find whoever it was." Rebecca suggested as she tried to lift up Jennifer's backpack.

"I guess...my name's Jennifer Conner by the way." Jennifer said as she stood and hefted the bag onto her back.

"For some reason...I think we might be the sanest of the people here." Rebecca murmurs as she and Jennifer headed back in the direction Rebecca had come from.

The roar of a motorcycle engine echoed throughout the forest as Sam and Ray continued on their journey. They had spent most of their time making small talk and getting to know one another. They had found a common ground in the fact that they both loved to build things, albeit his interest were mainly techno stuff while she was into more mechanical stuff. It was still a common ground for them to get acquainted on. Though most of their talk consisted of her trying to convince him that her improvements to her bike would hold up even in a heavily forested area like this and that she would be able to navigate through it without causing them to wreck. Aside from that they talked about where they're from, their families and whatever else came to mind. All in and all it was like a strange, unexpected blind date...in an alien world. 

After their talking had died down they rode in silence for several minutes, taking in the scenery around them and trying to come up with some explanation as to why they were there. And just who were these others they're suppose to find? Where they human? How were they suppose to know them? What would they do when or if they did find them? 

*Even more questions. I just wish something would give me an answer,* Ray thought wearily. 

A beeping from his pocket that he could barely hear over the bike engine broke his thought train. He reached into his pocket and carefully pulled the strange device that seemed to guiding them out and looked at the screen. 

"Stop!" he suddenly shouted. 

Sam slammed on the brakes in surprise, nearly sending both herself and him flying off of it. After she had it under control again she snapped her head back and raised the visor to her helmet to glare at him. 

"What?!" she asked indignantly. 

"Sorry, this thing said we needed to stop," he replied, holding out the device and showing her the message. 

She blinked in confusion for a second before pulling out the nearly identical device from her pocket and saw the same message on the screen to it. 

"Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly. 

"No problem," he replied, pulling his goggles and slipping off the bike. "I guess we better start looking for the others then."

She shrugged. "Seems like the thing to do. I just wonder how far off they are." 

Her inquiry was answered in the form of a giant backpack flying towards her and Ray. They both let out a loud shriek and ducked as the pack flew over their heads and barely missed hitting Sam's bike. She growled and took off her helmet as she stood up and glared threateningly in the direction the pack had come from. 

"Hey! Whoever threw that you better get your ass out here now! You nearly hit us with that stupid thing! More importantly you almost hit my bike!" she shouted. 

"Gee thanks for the concern," Ray muttered.

"Who are you?" A voice came from the direction that the backpack had come from.

"I could ask you the same question," Sam snarled. 

"Hey easy, I think you're scaring them off," Ray told her, resting a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her. "Look we're not going to hurt you-"

"Speaking for yourself."

"We're NOT going to hurt you. We just want to talk to you for a minute."

Quiet murmurings floated out from where the bag had be launched. Then slowly two girls stepped out into the light .The smaller of the two had a long flowing black skirt and a white blouse on. The other one had shorts and t-shirt on. As they walked a bit closer, it was obvious that the shorter of the two was the one who had convinced them to come out.

"See, they're human." The shorter girl said.

"That we are. My name's Ray," the brown hair boy introduced, holding out his hand.

"I'm Rebecca, the scardy-cat behind me is Jennifer." Rebecca replied, slowly taking Ray's hand.

"I'm not a scardy-cat! They surprised me! That's all." Jennifer said as she avoided the motorcycle and went to retrieve her bag.

"And you think that makes it OK to throw things at us?!" Sam shouted as she grabbed Jennifer's short collar and pulled her close so that they were nose to nose.

"If you had seen talking dogs climbing trees, wouldn't YOU be all, hit first, ask questions later?"

Sam stared at the frightened girl for a moment as she processed that statement. She let out an annoyed growl and released her. 

"Yeah I guess you're right," she admitted. "Sorry I'm just very protective of my bike."

"I would be too...it's nice." Jennifer said, hoping to smooth things over with the girl.

"Oh it's MORE than nice!" Sam started as she put a friendly hand on Jennifer's shoulder. 

A couple of feet away, Ray let out a small sigh and turned to the other girl that had joined up with him. 

"I think she's going to be awhile," he explained.

"Considering how nervous Jennifer is, it might be for the best. She was hesitant to even look for 'the rest', I don't think she doesn't deal well with surprises." Rebecca replied calmly.

"Yeah no kidding. So then what do we do now?"

"We wait." Rebecca said as she sat down beside a tree.

"Ok...and then?" Ray asked as he joined her.

"See what the cell phone things say." Rebecca said just as calmly.

"Makes sense."

A few moments pass, Jennifer began to regret complimenting the motorcycle as Sam continued to talk about all the details of her bike, Rebecca was still sitting calmly beneath the tree, and Ray was fiddling with cell phone device trying to figure out how it worked. Ray fumbled and nearly dropped the device as it began to beep. Turning it over, he saw another message.

"Find those that remain."

"There's more people here?" he mumbled more to himself.

"It would seem so." Rebecca replied, as she studied the message on her device.

Ray nodded then looked up to where the other two girls were standing. 

"Hey it looks like we gotta find some more people!" he shouted. 

"Yeah I know! I saw the thing for myself!" Sam shouted back. 

"OK. I think we should head out then."

"But how? We can't all fit on the bike....and we really shouldn't split up. We could lose more people that we could find." Jennifer spoke up.

"Well Sam could just walk with the thing, right?" Ray asked. 

He looked over to his original companion and his head jerked back in a mix of surprise and fear at the death glare that she was giving him. 

"Uh...maybe not. Hehe," he laughed nervously.

"Uh...Sam...I'm not sure how much gas you have in your bike....but it COULD be a while before we find more....so ..um...many you should walk it...." Jennifer said hesitantly.

Sam snapped out of her of anger driven daze with a blink then turned around to inspect something on her bike. As she looked at it she let out a surprised "huh" then turned to face the others. 

"You know you're right, I SHOULD need more gas, but...it hasn't dropped a bit from when I got here," she mused.

"Oh. I guess you can ride it then. I hope you don't get lost though"

"I really don't think that's a good idea," Ray spoke up. "We should try to stick together as much as we can."

It would be rather monotonous to have to keep 'finding' each other." Rebecca said with her usual calm.

"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice." Ray

Drawing a card from her Tarot deck, Rebecca looked at it , then spoke, " There is only one more pair to find."

"How do you know that?" Sam asked, walking over to the girl to inspect what she had in her hands

"The cards told me. I asked them how many more groups we had to find. I drew the ace of coins. One group left, and seeing as how we seemed to have met up in pairs. There should only be one more pair to find." Rebecca explained.

The blonde haired girl simply stared at her as she gave her a skeptical look. 

"Uh huh," she answered, nodded her head a bit. "So...anyone one else got a better way to find this out?"

"Uh.. find the remaining people?" Jennifer offered reluctantly.

"But which way do we go?" Ray asked.

"We came from that way," Rebecca said as she pointed to where she and Jennifer had come from, then pointing in another direction, " you came from that way. So there are only two ways we can go now."

"Well what do you cards tell you?" Sam asked sarcastically

Rebecca shuffled the cards, then drew one out. The ace of swords. "The ace of swords says, that way." Rebecca said as she pointed to her right.

"Then I guess we're going that way," Ray agreed. "Let's head out."

The three girls looked between each other for a second before they shrugged and got ready to leave. As Jennifer hefted her backpack over her shoulders, Sam walked over to her bike and switched it to where she could pull it along with her. She looked up to find the rest of the group already heading into the section of the woods they had chosen to travel. She growled a bit as she trudged forward. 

Jon let out a quiet curse as he pushed another branch out of his way. He and his new "friend" had been traveling for almost an hour and they still didn't appear to be any closer to find these "others". In fact the thing that had told them to find them hadn't beeped in quite awhile. And his traveling companion wasn't making things any easier. All he seemed to be doing was trailing behind him and keeping his mouth shut. When the stress of the situation finally got to him, stopped and let out a loud scream of frustration.

"What the hell is your problem now?" Alex quipped as he made his way carefully, hoping to avoid cutting his feet.

"Mostly you!" Jon remarked. "You haven't said anything in the last...hour or however long we've been here! It's not making things any easier."

"That sounds like a personal problem to me." Alex quoted back.

Jon just groaned and shook his head. "Look, do you have anything constructive to say? An idea of what we should do or where we should go? Anything like that?"

"Like I care?"

"Well you should! There's got to be some reason we're here. You don't want to find out what that is?"

"Why SHOULD I care?"

"Because you could be stuck where forever if we don't!"

"Well...fuck... "

"Exactly. So then, where do you think we should go?"

"I don't' care. That way, I guess." Alex said, waving his hand over to the left.

"Fine, then let's go," Jon replied before heading in the direction that had been pointed to.

"And what am I suppose to do about my bloody feet?"

"Make a leaf shoe," the longhaired man retorted

"Make a leaf shoe." Alex mimicked in a mocking tone. "I'll make one to make him eat it!"

The group walked as fast as they could with Sam pushing her bike and Jennifer hauling her seemingly overstuffed backpack. As Sam pushed her motorcycle along behind the other three, her growling grew more incessant. Her growling showed her displeasure at having to push her bike rather than ride it, like it was meant to do. The others, for the most part, tried to ignore her grumbling. Ray paused as they found another clearing, this one with a small stream near by.

He studied the area for a moment before turning around to face the others. 

"Hey does this spot look familiar to anyone?" he asked.

"I think we've gone by here before." Rebecca said.

"Yeah, we have, look, Sam's bike's tracks." Jennifer pointed out.

"Oh great!" the girl in question shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Not only are we going ass slow but also we're doing it in circles! That's it! I'm getting on my bike and I'm getting out of here!"

"That wouldn't be wise." Rebecca stated calmly.

"Yeah Sam, we need to stick together," Ray tried to convince her. 

"For what?! It's not like we're finding any answer just walking around here!" she counter. 

"Yeah well...I'm sure that any minute now we'll find something out."

"What makes you so sure?" 

"I just got this feeling."

As soon as Ray finished speaking, a noise to the right of the group, reached their ears. Tensing, Jennifer took off her backpack and readied it as a weapon. They listened as two arguing voices approached them. When the two figures appeared they saw that they were two young men around their own age. One had a black trenchcoat on and his hair tied back into a ponytail while the other was wearing jeans, a blue button-up and a black vest. His red hair was short and spiked in all directions.

They continued to argue until the one with the ponytail happened to catch a glimpse of the group staring at them in bewilderment. 

"Oh finally! Some other people!" he shouted with a great deal of relief. 

"Uh...yeah, so are you guys the other two we're suppose to find?" Ray asked, walking towards them. 

"If you mean do we have one of these things," Jon produced his own "cell phone" from his coat pocket, "then yeah that's us. I'm Jon McCloud."

"I'm Rebecca Graves, Jennifer is the one ready to throw her backpack at you." Rebecca said with a hint of mirth in her eyes and voice.

"Hey! I didn't throw it this time!" Jennifer complained.

"And I'm Sam Fairborne. Now that we got the introductions out of the way can we get going?" 

"Hey I haven't been introduced to anyone yet. I'm Ray Morelli."

Jon turned and looked at his companion, "Well?"

"Well what? I told you, I DON'T CARE!" the boy replied.

"Nice guy," Ray scoffed. 

"An hour. I spent a whole HOUR with him!" Jon explained with an exasperated sigh. 

"Must have been fun."

"Oh, loads."

"Who are you?" Jennifer asked, getting almost in Alex's face.

"Get away, you freak!" Alex said as he pushed Jennifer away.

"See what I had to put up with?" Jon asked, motioning towards the irritated man.

"If he wishes to remain nameless, then we should call him a fool. For only foolish people would go through life without a name." Rebecca stated, her face almost devoid of emotion.

"I have a name. I just don't want to tell any more freaks like you." Alex replied.

"His name is Alex," Jon spoke up. "Now that we got that out of the way, do any of you have any idea why we're here?"

"No. I just got zapped by my computer. Then he next thing I saw was talking dogs climbing trees." Jennifer said.

"What have you been smokin'? Talking dogs....Are you SURE this isn't Disneyland?" Alex griped.

"Well if it is they have a funny new promotion going on," Sam sneered. "I just want to get out of these forests and onto an open rode again." 

"That thing have any weapons on it?" Alex looked the bike over.

Sam's face beamed and she walked over to Alex. 

"No, but let me tell you about some of the other features it does have," she started, wrapping an arm around his shoulder in much the say way she did with Jennifer several minutes earlier.

"Feh, what good is it if it doesn't have weapons?" Alex asked, as he turned his back on the girl.

"Why you-"

Sam's rant was caught be the simultaneous beeping by all of their "cell phones". They all pulled them out and immediately six beams of light shot skyward from the screen to form a point above them. The point then grew into a globe that quickly exploded, felling the air with a blinding light, causing the group beneath to shield their eyes. When they reopened them they saw a winged figure floating above them. It slowly floated to the down where it landed in the middle of them. 

They stared at the obviously female creature, taking in what was standing before them. She looked human, save for the wings on her back and was dressed in a white uniform that was capped off by a gold, feather shaped breastplate. The uniform itself has many open places in it, from an oval shaped one that started just below her breasts to just past her naval as well as two curved spikes that exposed part of her hips. Her right leg was also exposed with only a feathered boot and two straps on her upper thigh as covering. Her right arm was also exposed while her left one was covered with a full-length glove with wings sticking out just after her wrist. There were two more straps around her upper torso. Most of her face was covered in a metal mask that had wings on the either side of it where her ears would be as well as a studded cross over the majority of the front of it. It was opened in the back to allow her long, blonde hair to flow down her back. The whole outfit was topped over by a large pink ribbon that somehow stayed over her head and wrapped around each of her arms.

"WAH!!!" Jennifer yelled as her backpack went flying again.

"Not again." Rebecca sighed.

The creature turned towards the including bag and held up her hand. The backpack suddenly stopped in midair. She smiled and gently floated it back to its owner. 

"There's no need to be afraid," she spoke in a smooth, calming voice.

Jennifer grabbed her bag as she tried to calm her fast breathing. She looked over at the others who were in various states of awe as well."Well at least I'm not the only one." She muttered.

"Powerful and a babe to boot. Well this CAN'T be Disneyland, there are no chicks there this awesome." Alex stated plainly.

"Well for once I agree with you," Jon said, looking the new arrival up and down. 

"Oh for God's sake," Sam sighed. "Look who are you and how did you do that?" 

"I am Angewomon and I am the guardian of this world," she explained. 

"And what is this world?" Ray asked. 

"This is the Digital World."

"Digital? As in...computers?"

"Yes. This entire world exists in what you would call 'cyberspace' and is made up of all the data from the various computers and websites all over the world."

"So, we're on the internet." Rebecca said seemingly at peace with the situation.

"In a way. Inside the internet would be a better way to state it," Angewomon explained. 

"Alright so that explains where we are, now how did we get here?" Jon asked. 

"I pulled you here by opening up dimensional gates using those devices you regard as 'cell phones'."

"You mean these things?" Ray asked, holding up said device. 

"Yes. They are actually called Digivices and they are to help you on your quest."

"You pulled us through? Ok...What the hell is up with bringing me here and not giving me any SHOES??" Alex asked loudly.

Although it was not visible through her mask, her posture clearly indicated that Angewomon had been taken off guard and was a little embarrassed. 

"Uh...yes, well unfortunately that was a bit of mistake. But perhaps one of your companions can help you out," she suggested.

"I have an extra pair of shoes." Jennifer said.

"Why didn't you say so Sooner?" Alex asked angrily.

"I didn't know you needed shoes. Besides, they're women's shoes." Jennifer replied.

"Forget it then. Those dinky little things won't fit me."

"And here I thought you're so worried about your precious feet were so injured that you'd wear anything," Jon retorted.

"Can't wear it, if it don't fit." Alex retorted.

"Well how do you know they won't fit?"

"Look at her feet man! They're SMALLER than mine! I can see that even from HERE!" Alex exclaimed, pointing to Jennifer's feet, " My feet are a size 12! If a chick had feet THAT big, she'd be a man!"

"Some woman can just have big feet."

"Look, while you two are having your discussion about woman's feet, I'd like to know the most important question. Why are we here?" Sam asked of Angewomon. 

The winged woman suddenly grew very solemn and bowed her head. A few a moment of silence she raised it again and look over them all. 

"Yes that is the most important question, as you are all here for an important reason," she started. "You are here to save this world."

A wave of surprised looks and soft gasps passed over the group of young men and women. Before they could ask any of the questions running through their minds, she spoke up once again. 

"You see while this section of our world may appear peaceful, it is only small section that has yet to be completely tainted by a spreading evil."

"What kind of evil?" Ray asked, still stunned by the revelation.

"The source of the evil is a single Digimon sorcerer known as Serpentmon. He and his band of generals appeared out of nowhere and began taking over our world, perverting each section they controlled with their own brand of evil." 

"So we are here to stop them. How can WE do that?" Rebecca asked.

"It...will be difficult. This world originally had its own set of warriors that were charged with defining it from evil. But Serpentmon's forces quickly overwhelmed them and they have not been heard from since. I thought all was lost until I remembered a prophecy from the ancient texts that told of warriors from another world that would come and save this world from an all consuming evil."

"So, you think that's us? But what can we do? We don't' even have powers like what you did with my pack." Jennifer said as her heart had finally stopped racing.

"Actually you have more powers than you know. They are simply buried within you, waiting to spring fourth. To achieve this you will be paired up with certain Digimon partners. Together you will learn from one another and find a strength you didn't even know you had. A strength that will help bring light back to my world."

"So where do we FIND this Digi-mon partners? Why aren't they here?" Alex asked, annoyed with the whole thing.

"Because much like you they do not know they are destined to save this world. But you don't need to worry, your Digivices will lead you to your partners."

"And what are we suppose ta do if we have to face these bad Digimon and we don't have our partners? Will we die here? Or is it like a game and we can be brought back to life?"

"You will find a way to survive them. For it is foretold that you will win and rid our land of this evil."

"Does anyone believe this? Cause I don't." Alex stated as he crossed his arms and stared to Angewomon.

"That's a big surprise," Jon rolled his eyes. "But considering the fact that we're here and we have her standing right in front of us, I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt."

"Yeah me too. I can't explain it any other way," Ray agreed.

"Hell I'm up for any type of adventure as long as I get a chance to ride my bike as hard and fast as I can," Sam added.

"I believe her." Rebecca said simply.

Jennifer shrugged, "It explains why my computer zapped me. And the talking dogs.... I'm in."

"Figures." Alex said.

Angewomon smiled as she looked the group over again. 

"Excellent," she said clapping her hands together. "Now then, we are not that far from a village, which I believe may hold the first of your partners."

"You don't even know? What good is that?" Alex asked, simply annoyed with the whole situation.

Again the celestial Digimon seemed to be at a loss for an explanation. 

"Well...there are some things that are even unknown to me," she offered.

"In other words, you don't know a damn thing."

"Now I didn't say that! There are just certain things the ancients thought were best kept a secret until the time was right."

"Feh, whatever. Why are all blonde chicks so damn stupid!"

"Oh that's it!" Sam shouted then tried to run over to the irritating boy before being held back by Ray and Jon. 

Once they had calmed her down enough to convince her not to kill Alex, Angewomon took control of the situation again and lead them through the forest to reach a village she assured them was close. As they walked, each one of them began to process the new information they had been given. It wasn't every day you were told you're some fabled warrior that was suppose to save a world inside a computer from some evil force. 

While most of the others thought about what exactly they're suppose to do, Ray was looking over their newfound advisor. She was, for all intents and purposes an angel. Even the first half of her name had the word in it. So if she was the one that was setting them on this mission did that make it some kind of...holy mission? And if it was, what would happen if one of them wasn't that...holy? And what was it she said about the generals? 

"Uh, Angewomon?" he asked tentatively. 

"Yes?" the Digimon in question inclined her head towards him. 

"I was wondering about something. You said that these generals each have their own trait, right? Well then what are they?" 

"They are the worst traits of humanity that has spelled over into our world. I believe you know them as the 'Seven Deadly Sins'. Lust, Greed, Anger, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, and Envy. There's a general for each one of them and each sector they control is being influenced by their personal traits." 

"And I'm guessing from his name that Serpentmon is some kind of snake?" 

"Yes."

Ray nodded and lowered his head in thought. There was definitely a quasi-religious overtone to this whole thing. Whether it was by function or fault, he didn't know. Nor was he quite sure that he really fit in with such a quest.

"If the generals have traits, I assume these legendary warriors do as well. Do you know them, Angewomon?" Rebecca asked.

"By Heart. Faith, Charity, Hope, Justice, Patience, Kindness, and Humility."

"So each of us will have one of those traits, but...there are only six of us."

Angewomon lowered her head in remorse. "Yes. I'm afraid that was another way they were able to overpower the original warriors. They appeared from nowhere and outnumbered them. It was only by one, but still...it was enough."

"So how the heck are WE suppose to beat them if WE only have six people, like the group that FAILED?" Alex asked, still quite annoyed with everything.

"Because you will have twelve once you find your partners. And together, you will be a force that can, and will, defeat Serpentmon and his army," Angewomon reassured him

"I'll believe THAT when I see it!"

"Well we definitely know your trait isn't Hope," Jon quipped.

"Or Faith." Jennifer added.

"It probably isn't Charity or Patience either." Rebecca commented.

"So what does that leave?" Ray asked, trying to tick them off on his fingers.

"Justice, Kindness and Humility." Jennifer replied with a smile.

"Definitely not Kindness," Sam muttered.

"So Justice or Humility...personally, I hope it's humility, he needs it." Rebecca stated.

"No kidding," Jon replied.

"Agreed," Sam added. 

"I don't think it would hurt," Ray piped in.

"Justice doesn't really fit Alex anyway." Jennifer commented.

"HEY! I could be any of those, easy!" Alex said trying to defend himself.

"No you couldn't," Jon said, shaking his head.

"I could too." Alex argued.

Angewomon watched the display and couldn't help but chuckle at it slightly. This group of humans reminded her so much of her missing comrades. She had truly wished she could have helped them, but it was forbidden for her to do so. Even acting on the ancient prophecy was a violation of her code, but she couldn't simply stand by and watch her beloved world succumb to some madmon's will. If she was to be damned for her actions, then it was well worth it.

"I hope I'm Hope or Kindness. Those are good traits to have." Jennifer said as Jon and Alex continued to argue.

"So do you know what traits we have?" Sam asked Angewomon. 

"Huh?" the celestial Digimon asked as she snapped out of her reverence. "Oh yes, I do, but to tell you would defeat the purpose of you finding them yourselves. That is how you will build your character and gain your strength." 

"Uh huh. And how long do you think this is going to take?"

"I'm not sure. But I pray it is not too long as time is something we have precious little of."

"So we're going into this blind about it....like everything ELSE in the insane place." Alex commented

"And you want your trait to be Hope," Jon joked. 

"Anything's better than being humiliated"

"Humility is not a bad trait to have. In fact the original warrior with that trait was a great fighter, but he knew not to let it override his judgment or his feelings towards his friends and comrades," Angewomon informed him.

"If he was such a great fighter, why isn't HE here?" Alex asked pointedly.

"Oh God, enough with the negative attitude already!" Sam shouted. "Just accept the fact that they're not here right now and we are! And if you don't shut up about it, I'm going to ram my boot down your throat!"

"Well you'll never be patience."

"Patience was never one of my virtues to begin with!" she retorted. "And speaking of which, when are we suppose to reach this stupid village?"

"Actually, we're here," their guide said softly. 

The group turned from their conversation to see a village composed of small huts and small, strange, plant-like creatures staring up at them. 

"This is a village? What is it some third-world country?" Alex said before grunting in pain from a sharp jab in his ribs, courtesy of Jennifer's elbow.

As she turned to apologize for Alex's rudeness, Jennifer's apology became a stifled scream, "They're....they're...they're..."

"Walking plants. We know, Jennifer." Rebecca said without emotion.

"Hello, we are the Floramon," one of the planet creature said as it walked up to the group. "Welcome to our village." 

"Uh...thanks," Ray replied, still a little unsure of the whole situation. "So what is it you guys do here?"

"We farm the land here. It's not much, but we grow enough to survive, when the Pumpkinmon aren't stealing from our granaries." The lead Floramon said.

"That's awful! Why do they steal from you? Don't they have food of their own?" Jennifer asked, over her small fright of seeing walking, talking plants.

"They do," another Floramon added, stepping forward, "but they say our crops look and taste better then theirs so they come and take them at each gathering."

"Well why don't you just fight them back?" Jon asked. 

"We're not fighters. And they're much stronger than we are anyway."

"Can't you do anything to stop them? Set up traps or something?" Jennifer asked.

"The Pumpkinmon just avoid the traps and it makes them angrier. And when they get angrier they take more food." A Floramon replied.

"This isn't right. We have to do something to help them," Jon stated, turning back towards the group.

"Why? This isn't the 'battle' we're here for." Alex commented while he rubbed his still sore ribs.

"It's exactly the battle we're here for!" Jon shouted. "If we're going to save this world then we might as well help out as much as we can. And I say we start here!"

"No, we're here to fight those generals. Not some stupid fight over who owns what!" Alex argued back.

"They're taking advantage of them! I've seen too much of that going on in our own world where I was powerless to stop it. But if I can stop it here, then that's exactly what I'm going to do. And if you don't want to help me then to hell with you!" 

"Right back at ya buddy! It's survival of the fittest! The strongest win and survive. If they can't do it on their own, then they should be disappear."

"You're wrong," Ray spoke up. "I'm with Jon on this one, we shouldn't let this continue." 

"Thanks," Jon nodded. 

"No problem."

"The strong should be able to protect the weak. We are strong, so we should help them since they are weak." Rebecca added.

"Yeah. Maybe one of our Digimon is here." Jennifer suggested, " If we don't help, we won't know."

Ray looked over at Sam, who had been quiet so far.

"What about you?" he asked. 

She gave him a lighthearted shrug. "Hey if there's a chance for some action I'm all for it. Maybe I'll even get a chance to actually ride my bike for this." 

"Well it seems you're outnumbered then," Angewomon smiled at Alex.

"What ELSE is new? This whole place is against me."

"Alex," her voice suddenly began very stern. "You can't keep this attitude up. If you want to live through this experience and be returned home you MUST learn to work with the others. The are your teammates and in time they shall be your friends."

"I don't' WORK in teams. I'm a solo fighter. IT'S what I'm best at. I don't NEED anyone else to help me fight." Alex responded.

"That's very courageous."

"Damn right. Who needs others when you've got the courage to fight for yourself, instead of depending on others to save you."

She didn't respond to his statement right way. Instead she simply leaned forward so that her face almost touched his. Unseen eyes seemed to bore a hole straight through him as she continued to stand there in silence. Finally, before he could shout out any curse or frustrated sentence, she spoke up. 

"It will take more than courage to survive what's coming," she told him in a low, ominous tone. 

She then immediately stood up and returned to her more cheerful self as she walked over to where Jon and Ray were standing. 

"So now that most of you have agreed to work together, do you have a plan on what exactly you shall do?" she asked them. 

"Well...no," Jon admitted. 

"Well we all seem to have come with something extra. Maybe we could pull something together from that. what does everyone have?" Ray asked. 

"I just have my bike and my Digivice," Sam spoke up. 

"I have this," Jon said, unsheathing his sword. 

Ray started at him for a moment. 

"You always carry that with you?" he asked. 

"Just for special occasions."

"I have all my camping supplies...I have some rope and a net if that'll help." Jennifer offered.

"Only my Tarot deck came with me." Rebecca told the group.

"Well I didn't have anything come with me. I don't' even have SHOES!"

"We know." Rebecca replied.

"I have...let's see," Ray started digging through his pockets. "Various tools, some nuts, bolts, screws, a flashlight, a lighter, pocket knife, a small magnifying glass, batteries, oh hey gum! And..." he stopped for a moment to fish something out of his belt. "...a button. Huh." 

He looked up from his new discovery to find everyone staring at him with blank looks on their faces. 

"What?"

"Why would you wear all of that?" Rebecca asked

"I tool around with a lot of stuff. Gotta make sure I have all the important stuff on hand."

"A button?"

"Yeah that took me by surprise too. I wonder what it goes to?"

"Maybe it's off one of your pockets" Jennifer suggested

"Could be. Wouldn't be the first time," 

"Alright, alright, you can work that out later, right now we need to think of a plan," Jon intervened.

"Where do the Pumpkinmon usually attack from? If we set up traps there...it should be easier to stop them" Rebecca suggested.

"From the east end of the village. That's usually where we usually put gather our harvest together," one of the Floramon explained.

"So let's focus there. We can use whatever's in my backpack." Jennifer said as she opened the bag and began pulling things out. The pile of items grew slowly, rope, a net, a frying pan, a tent plus it's poles, extra clothes, boots, a compass, bug spray, her rations and a canteen all entered the pile.

The others stared at the pile in silence as they wonder just how she could have fit all of that stuff in one pack and how she could carry it all. And most important of all, how the hell could she throws it so far? 

"And you guys thought I had a lot of stuff," Ray joked.

"I was going camping, what's your excuse?" Jennifer asked, slightly offended by the joke.

"I build a lot of stuff."

"How nice for you."

"Yeah it is."

"Can we start thinking of HOW we can use this stuff, rather than argue with each other?" Rebecca asked, hoping to stop another fight before it started.

"Good idea," Jon said as he resheathed his sword. "Anyone know how to make snare traps?"

"I know how to make a few, but I don't' have enough rope for a lot of them." Jennifer replied.

"What about you guys? You have any rope?" he asked the Floramon.

"No, but we have plenty of vines. Maybe they could help," the lead one replied.

"It couldn't hurt." Jennifer said as she set about knotting the rope for one of the snare traps.

"Alright then, let's get to it!" Ray shouted enthusiastically.

"You do realize that this won't work, right?" Alex asked disgruntled that he had to help these weakling plants.

"Always the optimist," Jon said with a roll of his eyes

"At least I can SEE the reality of the situation. Unlike some people."

They ignored him, as they were quickly growing accustomed to and set about making their traps with the help of the Floramon. 

Starting close to the village, where there wasn't a lot of trees to work with, Jennifer suggested that the Floramon dig some pits that the Pumpkinmon could fall into. She showed the Floramon how they could cover the pits so that the Pumpkinmon wouldn't know that there were holes. After that she showed some of the others how to knot the rope and wire to make snare traps that would catch the Pumpkinmon and lift them up into the trees. Lastly she looked over the snares and pits, to make sure that they had been done right and marked them so that no one else would get caught in them.

"We also set up trip lines with some fishing wire we found in you're piles of stuff." Rebecca told the girl.

"Alright then, looks like everything's done," Ray said as he stood up from finishing a trap and wiped his brow. "So now all we gotta do is hide so they won't know something's up."

"So we gotta run and hide like a bunch of cowards.."

Jon simply smacked Alex on the back of the head as he passed him.

"Hey! Come back here!"

"Not a chance." 

"Alright, that will be enough of that," Angewomon spoke up. "You all worked well together to build these traps, but now we have to make sure they work. This will be your first test."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

As the day progressed, the Floramon went about their usual routine of harvesting the ripened crops and gathering them to be sorted out later. It was a fairly good crop this time and providing the humans' plan worked, they should have enough to last them for quite awhile. 

Just as the last bit was stacked, the familiar rustle of the bushes and taunting laughter filled the air. The Floramon all stood with baited breath, hoping that this time things would end up differently. If they didn't and the Pumpkinmon did get through the traps, they knew they faced something much worse then a few stolen crops.

It was when the angry shouts and the sounds of ropes and wires twanging, that the Floramons' hope grew ever so slightly. From the sounds of it, at least 6 or 7 Pumpkinmon had been caught, the others didn't sound happy as their angry voices quickly got louder and closer to the village. A crash came next, the Pumpkinmon had probably found one of the tripwires....

Another series of angry shouts and the results of the net trap could be seen hanging from a tall tree, almost overflowing with the offending Digimon. Eventually the sounds of screams and springing traps died down and there was a moment of silent aspiration. When the Floramon were ready to breathe a sigh of relief, a rustling in a nearby bush made it stick in their throats. They watched in horror as a single Pumpkinmon appeared and glared angrily at them. 

"So you thought you'd stop us with some stupid traps, eh? Well once my brothers are out of those traps we'll make you pay dearly for this. Oh yes, you'll pay," he threatened. 

He was about to take a step forward to the frightened flower Digimon, when a sharp blade pressed against the nape of what would be considered his neck. He turned his empty, triangle shaped eyes upward to see a human with long black coat smiling down at him from the tip of his sword. 

"I don't think so," Jon told him with a hearty smile.

"I really don't think so."Jennifer said as she held her frying pan in her hand.

Rebecca simply stood to the side, glaring at the thieving Pumpkinmon.

"Hey, anyone like roasted pumpkinseeds?" Alex asked maliciously

"He has a pumpkin for a head!" Ray shouted, barely able to contain his laughter. "I guess now we know why the call them Pumpkinmon! Hehhehe."

"Why you..." the captured Digimon growled and tried to move forward, only to be stopped by Jon's sword again. 

"Uh huh," he reminded him. 

"What are you humans doing here anyway?!" the Pumpkinmon snarled.

"We're here to save you sorry butts." Alex growled

"Well you sure did a good job of it! All my friends are stuck in your stupid traps!" 

"And whose fault is that?" Jon asked, then pressed his blade forward a bit. "And answer very carefully."

"Stop!" Angewomon stepped forward. 

She floated over to where the capture Pumpkinmon stood then knelt down and placed a hand in front of his face. He growled at her and tried to back away, but Jon's sword followed his movement. After a moment Angewomon brought her hand down and looked back over the group of humans. 

"He and his tribe have all been tainted by the evil that is consuming this land. It is not their fault that they have acted in this manner," she informed them.

"What can we do about that? The can't continue to steal the Fluoramon's food. If we let them go free they'll just find a way around the traps. And if we don't let them go, we'll be no better than those that control this world." Rebecca commented.

"Well let's work out a deal then," Jon said as he leaned down to look the Digimon in the face. "We've taught the Floramon here how to make trap and left them the materials to do so. So they can place traps anywhere they want in this forest. You come in from the west, they'll put traps there. Come in from the south, traps. So basically, anytime you try to come into we're going to get caught in their traps. So the best way to avoid that would be to..." 

He rolled his hand as he waited for the disgruntled Pumpkinmon to complete the sentence. Said Digimon stared at him indignantly for a few seconds before he finally sighed in acceptance. 

"Never come here and steal the Fluoramon's crops again," he said. 

"Exactly. Now, we'll help your friends out of those traps, but if you try anything funny then all bets are off."

"Alright, alright."

"You know....that Digimon sounds like someone we know." Jennifer whispered to Rebecca.

"Let's hope he doesn't rub off on them..." Rebecca replied as she and Jennifer went to free some of the Pumpkinmon from the snare traps.

After all the Pumpkinmon were set free and everyone was positive they weren't going to return for the night, and another round of trap setting prevented them from getting into the village anyway. The Floramon invited their human saviors to stay the night in the extra huts they had and join them for breakfast the next morning. Despite some loud protesting from a certain member of the group, they accepted and were shown their temporary lodgings. Late afternoon rolled into evening and soon the village settled down for a peaceful night's sleep. Something none of them thought they would ever have again. 

Unfortunately, while the Digimon slept, the human occupants of the village were wide-awake. Each one of them were still trying to accept the fact that they were suppose to save an entire world from some evil force. Sure they had just saved a small village, but what was that compared to the rest of the world? These were some of the very same thoughts Ray had going through his head as he sat underneath a tree and stared up at the sky. There was a full moon out and the familiar little pinpricks of light that signified stars. But where they really stars? Where those really lights from other galaxies and worlds or just icons on some computer screen somewhere? The whole concept of a digital world existing inside the internet both fascinated and confused him. He dug his fingers into the damp grass and pulled some of it out then held it up and examined it. 

*Feels real enough,* he thought as he continued to stare at the green blades. *But it's not real. At least not real real. If what Angewomon said is right, then all of this is just data made up to look and feel like grass. But then what does that make us? Are we just data now too? And if that going to help us or hurt us in this fight?* He sighed and let the grass fall from his hand. *This whole fight is giving me a problem as well.*

"Can't sleep?" he heard someone ask him from behind. 

He turned his head and watched as Sam came walking up to him. His eyes fixed on her as she sat down next to him. So far he had only seen her in her motorcycle suit, but at the moment she was only wearing a white tank top and a pair of tan shorts. Tight shorts at that. He tried his hardest not to make his staring obvious, but from the way she stared back at him he was failing miserably at it. 

"Alright, I think you've more than an eyeful," she informed him curtly, folding her arms over her chest. 

"Uh...sorry," he shook his head to clear those thoughts away. "Just haven't seen you out of your suit."

"Well you didn't think I was naked underneath there did you?" She stopped for a second before quickly adding, "On second thought, don't answer that."

"Alright."

"So you couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"Nope. Too much on my mind to sleep."

"I know what you mean," she replied as tucked her knees to her chest and rested her arms and head on them. "This morning my biggest concern was watching out for the cops when I went speeding down the freeway. Hell, I was just about to take off before I pulled here. Would have been so fun too. The wind rushing against me, the rush of adrenaline as I snaked my way through all the traffic. Just the whole euphoric feeling of it all." She let out a soft sigh of remorse. "But I guess now, I have to worry about saving this world for awhile. God, if the original warriors couldn't stop these generals then how are suppose to?"

"Asking the wrong guy," Ray admitted. "This whole...crusade isn't sitting right with me at all."

"So which part is worrying you?"

"Like I said, the whole thing. I mean our advisor is named Angewomon who for all intents and purposes IS an angel, we're fighting a guy named Serpentmon who's generals all represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins and we're all suppose to have some kind 'pure' trait within us. It's just all too...biblical for me."

"So you didn't believe in that stuff before today?"

"No. It's not that I had some vicinal hatred for it that others have, it's just that...well I guess my mind's too fixed on logical explanations. And nothing I was told about all that stuff ever added up for me. So I just couldn't believe in it. But now that I'm pretty much faced with it head on...I just don't know how to handle it."

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be that easy for you. I really don't know what I can say that would make easy either. I just know that I've always believed in that stuff so it's not that hard for me to accept this. Well the parts we're talking about anyway."

"So how did you come to believe in it so much?"

"Part of it was my upbringing, but another part was the fact that through all the crazy stunts I've pulled on my bike, and even before then, that I've never had a major wreck. I figured someone up there had to be looking out for me to make that happen. I also had a strong sense that everything would work out in the end. I'd put on my helmet, start my bike up and just hope for the best."

"Hope, huh?" Ray chuckled. "Keep that talk up and I'll begin to think that's your trait."

"Maybe it is," she smiled back at him. "Like I said, I've always had a strong sense of hope throughout my life. Even now I just have this feeling that everything's going to turn out alright for us."

"Well I hope you're right."

"Hey, that's my line," she remarked as she hit his arm playfully. 

"Right, right sorry," he apologized, trying to "defend" himself. 

They laughed at the other's antics then sat in silence as they simply looked up into the night sky. Several minutes pasted before Sam finally stood up, dusted herself off then turned towards him. 

"Well that was fun and all, but I think I'm about ready to turn in for the night. Try not to stay up too late, OK? Apparently the Floramon are the 'rise with the sun' kind," she told him. 

"Alright. Thanks for the talk. It did help a bit," he reassured her. 

"My pleasure. We'll have to do it again sometime."

"That we will."

She gave him one more smile before she turned and walked off to the hut she had been given for the night. He watched her leave and tried not to let his eyes focus on her shapely backside as it swayed slightly from the movement of her hips. He shook his head once again then turned his attention back to the "stars". 

*And I'm some holy warrior trying to save this planet from the deadly sins. Right as I'm lusting over some girl I've just met. Nice going Ray,* he scolded himself mentally.

In one of the huts, Rebecca sits off to the side with a candle lighting the floor in front of her. She sits there shuffling her tarot cards, silently asking the deck to show her guidance concerning the task the group had been told was their destiny to do. Choosing three cards at random, Rebecca lays them out beside each other. In the past, The Wheel, in the present, Judgment, and in the future, The Magician.

"In the past, luck, a great change. That would definitely be coming to the Digital world. That's the biggest change I can think of." Rebecca said to herself as she turned to the next card.

"In the present, healing... forgive and forget the past...rebirth....I wish this card wasn't always so hard to read its true meaning. It could be any of those, or all of them. Or, none of them." Rebecca huffed as she looked at the last card.

"The future, the future will be what we make of it. We decide the future. The results of this war will fall on our shoulders." Rebecca stared at the cards for while before gathering them up and putting them back in her deck.

"So it's like Angewomon said? We're the saviors of this world?" Jennifer asked from behind Rebecca.

Rebecca turned slowly to look at Jennifer. Seeing the girl in her sleeping bag, but sleep was obviously avoiding Jennifer.

"That is what my cards seem to indicate. But at the same time, we could be this world's destroyers. The Magician simply shows up the tools that we can use. We have to choose HOW to use them."

"Oh so, if we choose badly we could be even worse then the generals?" Jennifer asked, interested in what the cards might have told Rebecca.

"Yes. Think about it. We are being given the power TO change this world. How we use this power will determine the good or evil we do in this world. So if we simply destroy the generals and not try to heal the land, we will simply be no better than they are, for the inhabitants will be no better off." Rebecca told Jennifer.

Jennifer sat up in her sleeping bag, thinking about what Rebecca said. "So we'll have to try and keep Alex in line... or he might just end up making things worse..."

Rebecca nodded and turned to the makeshift bed she was going to sleep in. "Yes, but something tell me, that Alex is just putting up a mask to keep up from seeing what he's really like. Whatever the case, we should try to get some sleep. Morning will come quickly."

"Right. Good night Rebecca." Jennifer said as she laid back down.

Rebecca laid down in the bed, and began to think of how this world needed them, called out for them and how they didn't even get a choice in the matter. *Is this destiny? To be forced into a calling? Do we even have what it takes to save this world? To heal it? What if we're not strong enough, then what will this world do?*

Jon stood in the darkened hut, illuminated only be the moonlight shining in from the open window. His coat was laying on one of the small chairs in the room while he stood in the center of it pose with his left arm out, his last to fingers held down and his index, middle and thumb sticking out. He held his left arm straight down so the blunt side of his sword could rest against it. His legs were spread about and slightly crouched as if he were ready to pounce on an incoming enemy. To a casual observer it would appear he was looking at his outstretched hand, but he was actually looking beyond it. Not at the wall or the darkness around him, but something much more intangible. He wasn't really looking at anything yet at the same time he was looking at everything running through his mind. 

He stayed in that position for a few more seconds before suddenly swinging his sword forward to slash some unseen opponent. He then flipped the blade around so he could hold it with both hands and gave a downward stroke. He then slashed upwards and followed it by releasing his right hand and placing it long the tip of the flat end in a defensive position. He continued to keep his hand just about the back of the sword as he moved it down to his left side. After holding that for a second he whipped the blade upward again and let it rest out to his right side before bringing it up once more with a twist. At the apex of his swing his left hand let go of the handle and before gravity had time to take effect his right hand snatched the handle and he held the weapon straight out in front of him. He held that position as his thoughts once again began to wander. 

*Why? Why us?* he asked. *Why out of all the people on Earth were WE chosen? We are really that special or was it simply blind luck?*

The question went unanswered as he pulled the sword back and held it with both hands again while pulling it close to his body. He let out a slow, steady breath as he moved it down slightly. He turned the blade so he could stare at his reflection offered by the moonlight.

*What can I do?* he asked the imagine starring back at him. *I have this weapon with me, but do I have the skills enough to use it properly? Do I even have the courage to stand up to some of the other monsters we may face? The Pumpkinmon may have had numbers on their side, but they weren't the bright or that tall. What happens when we face one that IS bright and tall? Do we really have the powers Angewomon told us about or was she just giving us false hope?*

He held the blade out in front of him once more, staring at its tip and beyond. Try as he might, his meditations simply weren't helping to calm his mind this time. With a frustrated sigh he relaxed his pose then turned and picked up the sheath for his sword. Once it was safely back inside its housing he laid it down next to the bed, propping it up against the wall. He then pulled the tie out of his hair and let it fall down before he fell himself on top of the bed. The small wood creaked under his weight and he held his breath in anticipation for it to break beneath him. When he was sure it would hold he placed his arms behind his head and stared up at the dark ceiling. There were still so many questions he had, but the answers just weren't going to come tonight. The best he could do was just sleep on it and hope his morning meditations would bring about some kind of resolution for him. 

He smirked at that thought. Originally he started doing what he called his "meditations" to copy Duncan MacLeod from the Highlander show. He knew it was extremely geeky but he just couldn't help it. It was such a great show and it looked really cool. It was only when he found out that it actually did help him deal with the stress of college and work that he found time to work it into his daily schedule. He had no idea if he could find a regular time to do it while he was here, but he promised himself he would do it as often as he could. For the moment it was the only thing he could control and it was important for him to feel like he control over something. It was the only way he could keep his sanity about this whole situation. As long as he found time to meditate he would be handle anything this world would throw at him. 

*And with that, I'm sure I've just jinxed myself to face some really nasty critters,* he mused. *Oh well, I'll worry about it tomorrow. For now...sleep.* 

He closed his eyes and tried to get as comfortable as he could before laying down and waiting for sleep to overtake him. There was no telling what tomorrow would bring, but he was sure he'd need all the sleep he could get to deal with it. 

Sitting under a tree near the village, Alex thought about everything that had happened during the day. Grumbling, he picked up a few stones near him and started throwing them towards the hut that he was suppose to be sleeping in. He had been paired up with Jon, again, and he couldn't stand it, so he had left the hut to find a place where he could just get away from Jon. 

*Why me? Why'd I have to come to this stupid place? Why couldn't it have be anyone else? All the others have talents, I can see it plainly. But me, I don't know anything other than how to take people apart in computer games.*

Alex sighed and threw the rest of his stones at the hut, he smiled briefly as one of the stones sailed threw the small window of the hut. The smile faded when the stone didn't connect with Jon. Giving a frustrated sigh, Alex stood up and started to walk into the forest. He only stopped when he thought that he was far enough away from the village that no one could hear him. As luck would have it, the stream that Alex had woken up beside, wound its way near the village and stopped Alex from going even farther into the forest. Grabbing some rocks, Alex started to throw them into the water. When this failed to help him calm down, he threw the rest in with a yell. 

Dropping down so that he could see his reflection in the water, Alex looked at the rippled water. *Everything is warped. It doesn't even look like me. I don't belong here, just like this reflection doesn't belong to me. The Angel-babe probably wanted my perfect roommate. He'd have known what to do. He ALWAYS knows what to do. Me, I don't know what to do here. I don't know how to camp, or make snares. Can't fight with a sword. Can't calm people down. Can't build stuff. I didn't even have anything come through that stupid light with me. I'm useless here.*

"Useless like a warped reflection." Alex said to himself before he walked carefully back to the village.

Quietly walking into the hut he was sharing, Alex laid down on the questionable bed. *And what's going to happen to me once they realize I'm useless? They'll probably just leave me. Like I really need them anyway.*

Angewomon watched the angst ridden boy named Alex walk back into the hut he had been given, with his head hung limply, from her perch on the top of what could be considered the Fluoramon's church. She had always felt more comfortable in these places, no doubt due to her evolved form. As she watched him drag himself into the hut she couldn't help but feel guilty at causing him, and the others, so much pain and confusion. She really didn't want to bring any of them there, but she saw no other choice. She wasn't strong enough to take on Serpentmon and his generals by herself and as long as they continued to exist she would never by able to look for the original warriors. And she had to find them. She would never admit it to the humans, or any other Digimon for that matter, but they were more than just her charges they were also her friends. She couldn't stand the thought of them being tortured or even worse deleted. No, they were still alive! She could feel it. And she would find them! But first she had to continue with her duty to guard this world. 

Unfortunately that led to her other problem. While she was suppose to be the guardian of the Digital World she was never suppose to directly interfere with its peoples. She could send the chosen warriors out to fight whatever evil may appear and that was it. It had been the tradition of all the other guardians long before she even hatched from a Digiegg. But those guardians had never faced a problem such as this one. Their warriors had never been defeated. So she had no other choice to be break her vow and enacted the prophecy. She knew once it was all over and the Digital World was free once again she would face dire consequences from the spirits of the other guardians but she didn't care. Even they had to see that if she hadn't called the human here to fight this evil then they wouldn't even get the chance to discipline her. So yes, for now she was going to act and worry about the punishment later after they had won. Technically she was still doing her job to guard this world so she couldn't understand why they would be angry with her. 

*Because tradition demands it,* she thought. *But some times traditions need to be broken. The humans and there soon-to-be partners may be the only thing that can save us. So they must not fail. They cannot fail. They WON'T fail! Not at long as I still draw a breath! We will win! We HAVE to.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, here's the reminder blurb.

PLEASE REVIEW

We'll even take flames. We need a good laugh.


	2. New Friends, New Enemies and a New Entit...

Takuya: Alright so last time Ray, Sam, Jon, Alex, Rebecca and Jennifer were all pulled into the Digital World. After running around for awhile they finally ran into each other and then Angewomon appeared and told them they were all destined to save the Digital World from the evil Serpentmon and his Dark Generals. Of course first they'll have to find their partner Digimon and learn how to work together as a team. Hope they can figure it out soon cause they're definitely gonna need it. And Alex needs some shoes ASAP!

***********************************************************************

Morning came quickly for the humans. Each of the group rose with varying degrees of wakefulness. The one that was least happy with having to get up with the sun, was Alex. His grumbling made for some tense moments when the Floramon tried to cheerfully wake everyone. After everyone was up and gathered, the Floramon started to pass out bowls with a soupy concoction. As they bowls were handed to them, the humans stared down at it in bewilderment. They didn't want to be rude to their gracious hosts, but at the same time they didn't know if it was safe for human consumption. 

"So...who's going to be the first to try it?" Jon asked, scooping and draining the soup from his bowl.

"Not me. This stuff looks like..." Alex started to comment when a swift elbow from Jennifer shut him up.

"Looks like good food, right Alex?" Jennifer asked the grumpy boy.

"Whatever." Alex growled as he tried to move away from Jennifer and her elbow.

"Can't be all that bad," Ray tried to encourage them, though he himself still looked into his bowl uncertainly.

"It's fruity." Rebecca said emotionlessly.

Despite his better efforts, Ray snickered a bit at her comments. 

"What's your problem?" Sam whispered to him.

"Uh...nothing," he replied quickly. 

"Whatever," she shrugged then tried the soup herself. "Hmm...actually it's really not that bad. Kinda reminds me of something though."

"It's kind of like honey and fruits. I like it." Jennifer commented after she had tried the soup.

Alex took a sip and nearly spit it out. "It's too sweet."

"Fruit punch," Jon spoke up. 

"That's it!" Sam shouted, slamming a fist on the table in her excitement. "That's what it reminds me of! Thank you!"

"Do you like our food?" One of the braver Floramon asked the humans.

"It's good. Thank you very much for your hospitality." Rebecca replied before anyone could comment.

"So then Angewomon, where do we go after we finish breakfast?" Ray asked, looking towards the winged Digimon. 

"I believe it would be in our benefit to head to the west," she replied before taking a sip of the soup. "Hmm, this is really good."

"Thank you," one of the Floramon bowed their head. 

"Now as I saying there are many villages to the west and I believe some of you will find your partners along the way." She suddenly stopped and a small smile spread across her lips. "In fact, for one of you the journey had ended before it even began."

The others stared blankly at her and before they could ask what she meant, Ray's Digivice began to beep. He dug it out of the pocket from his too belt and looked at it to find an arrow pointing towards the door. He looked up in time to find someone walking into the large hut that served as the Floramon's dinning hall.

"Excuse me I was just-" the new comer stopped and stared up at Ray. 

For a moment the two simply looked at one another, feeling some kind of a strange connection between them. Once he was over that feeling, Ray studied the creature before him. It was a large light red bug with big green eyes and yellow antenna sticking out of his head. He had four arms, to large ones that ended in gray, rounded claws while the shorter ones barely stuck out from his torso and were three fingered hands. 

As the seconds ticked by in silence, one of them was about to speak up but before they could someone else broke the quiet with a loud shriek. Jennifer stood to the side of the door, spraying the red bug with her can of bug spray, obviously freaked out by the bug's appearance. The scene itself took everyone by surprise, so no one automatically tried to stop the girl.

The bug went into a coughing fit from the spray and fell onto his back, twitching slightly. After he overcame his surprise, Ray jumped over the table and ran towards the crazed girl.

"What do you think you're doing?!" He shouted as he slapped the can from her hand.

"Getting rid of that giant bug! It could be diseased." Jennifer replied as she grabbed the can of bug spray from the ground.

"It's not just a bug. It's a Digimon! Sheesh! You could try to think of these things before you act, ya know?!"

"Calm down. You should know that Jennifer tends to over-react, Ray. Jennifer, you should put that away, I think that Digimon is Ray's partner. We don't need to lose a partner Digimon before we even begin this journey." Rebecca said as she tried to diffuse the tension before either person decided to do more than yell.

Ray nodded in agreement then gave a small glare to Jennifer before kneeling next to the injured Digimon. 

"Hey little guy, you OK?" He asked. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," the bug coughed. "Or at least I will be. That stuff's strong." 

"It's suppose to be. So what's your name?"

"Tentomon. Who are you?"

"I'm Ray. Pleasure to meet you," the young man said as he held his hand out to shake one of Tentomon's claws. 

"A pleasure to meet you Ray. Though...I can't help but feel like we've meet before."

"That's because you're to be his partner on our quest," Angewomon said as she walked up to the two. 

"Partner? Quest?" Tentomon asked, tilting his head to the right. 

"I shall explain later. For now though, please sit down and join us. That is, if it's alright you?" She asked one of the nearby Floramon.

"Of course, we love having guests." The Floramon replied. 

A short while later, the humans were saying their farewells to the Floramon village and heading towards the west. The group would have made better progress, if Alex hadn't been complaining about his feet and how much they hurt. Jennifer had apologized profusely to Tentomon for spraying him with bug spray, explaining that he had startled her. Rebecca stayed closer to the back of the group, keeping an eye on Alex. She remembered what her cards had shown her last night, and Alex was the one person who could destroy the very world they were meant to save. Keeping him in line and helping him to a more positive attitude would be helpful.

"So I'm really suppose to help you save my world?" Tentomon asked Ray as he flew beside him. 

"That's what she told me," he responded, nodding towards the aforementioned Digimon. 

"Huh. And to think I was just stopping by there to get something to eat." 

"You're taking this really well. Better than any of us did."

"It's probably because Digimon are used to having to fight for most of their lives."

"Really? I can even imagine having to live like that."

Tentomon shrugged. "It's a living. Though I do agree it's not a very good one. That's why I try to keep away from it as much as I can."

"So what do you do then?"

"Mostly explore. Look for any kind of work I can find. What I'd really like to do is get a job building things."

Ray's eyebrow arched slightly at this revelation. "You like to build things?"

"Oh yes. Of course it is kind of hard with these," Tentomon held up his large, claw ended arms, "but I make due." 

"Guess you'd have to. Still I can see why we'd be paired up. I like to build thing too." 

"That is quite a coincidence. Maybe sometime during this quest we'll get to build something together."

"I'd like that."

"If he likes to make things so much.... why doesn't he make me a pair of shoes?" Alex asked with his usual annoyed tone.

Jon looked back at the annoyed, and annoying, boy and then snaked his fingers around the handle to his sword. 

"'I should take your head just to shut you up'" he mused.

"You do that and you're screwed, and you know it." Alex replied.

"A man can dream."

"That's a rather bloody dream." Jennifer commented, "Not that I could blame you, having to deal with Alex."

"Hey! You try being all cheerful and perky, WITHOUT shoes!" Alex exclaimed.

"It doesn't bother me," Tentomon added to the conversation

"You're not walking bug-boy." Alex told the flying Digimon.

"True. But when I do it, doesn't bother me."

"Just ignore him," Ray advised his new partner. "Trust me, I've known him for only a day and I've learned it's best not to argue with him."

"You can't argue with me, cause I'm RIGHT! Having no shoes SUCKS!!" Alex yelled from behind the rest.

***

In a castle near the center of the land, the newly appointed ruler sat on his throne. His black hair falling onto his shoulders like it had just been wet. His white dress shirt hung open to reveal his well-muscled chest. From the blue collar around his neck hung his cape, his black pants were just loose enough to fit well, but tight enough to show the muscles in his legs. His polished black boots stopped just below his knees. 

"Why do I have to have this wretched land? There's NOTHING here. Crusadermon has a beautiful castle, not like this dump," he moaned, looking around his "meager" castle. 

In truth it was a well-sized castle with great, extending halls and overly furnished rooms containing the finest furniture that could be found in this land. But that was the problem. To him, this land held nothing but dirt and simple-minded Digimon. The other generals had large, glorious lands filled with powerful Digimon that they could command as well as enormous castles and plenty of riches. But he was stuck here, with nothing. Why? Why did his talents have to go to waste here? 

His complaining was cut short be a soft hissing sound coming from behind him. He spun around quickly to find a large snake slowly descending near his throne. He jumped out of it and was about to blast it when the snake wrapped around itself and clung to the wall. Within the circle it now created a reflect portal shimmered to life. The surprised general stared at his reflection for a moment before the hooded, serpentine face of his master appeared before him. 

"Moping around once again, are we Senbomon?" Serpentmon inquired.

"I wa...wasn't moping my Lord." Senbomon stammered while trying to look dignified.

"Oh of course not. I'm sure you were hard at work coming up with a brilliant plan to get rid of the humans wandering around in your sector."

"Humans?"

The snake-like lord sighed in annoyance and barely constrained angry. 

"Yes, humans. As in the prophecy of warriors from another world-that being the humans-come to this world to destroy the evil over taking it-that would be us," he explained calmly.

"They're here in MY land? I'll kill them!"

"Yes! That's exactly the spirit I want! And to give you even more of an incentive, if you do kill them I'll give you the choice of any land you want. How does that sound to you?"

"That sounds like a fair price my Lord. I shall dispense of these vermin at once."

A smile spread across Serpentmon's face as he looked at his willing subordinate. 

"Excellent. I hope to hear good news from you soon." His attitude suddenly grew deadly serious. "Because if I don't, then you'd better pray that those humans destroy you instead of me. Because I assure you I won't go as easy on you as they will."

His eyes flashed a dangerous red before the image faded and the uncoiled and fell to the floor, slithering off to some dark corner of the castle.

"Ogremon! Goblimon! Come here."

The two Digimon in question quickly appeared in the room and knelt before their master. 

"What is it you require of me my Lord?" Orgemon asked. 

"I want you to kill the humans that are in our land. Do this and I'll reward you."

"Very well, we shall hunt them down and make them suffer as they have never suffered before."

"Good. Very good. Don't bother to report back to me if you fail. I will not be lenient."

"Of course."

With that the two Digimon left, leaving their master to sit and thinking about what his master would do to them should they fail and the blame fall on him. He couldn't let that happen. He would not be killed until he had reached a better land. He would not die in this land, he swore it.

***

Elsewhere in the continent, the would be heroes each felt less then heroic at the moment. They had been walking for at least two hours now and they were all feeling the effects of their trek. The most audible of course being Alex, complaining about this sore, bare feet. The other one seeming to suffer the most was Sam, who kept growling periodically and glancing down at the motorcycle she was forced to pull along with her. Finally one of her growled turned into a scream of frustration. 

"I can't take it anymore! I HAVE to ride! My bike is crying out in pain! Can't you hear it?!" She shouted. 

"So are my feet, deal with it blondie." Alex retorted

"Don't make me go upside your head!"

"Try it pretty girl."

She was about to take him up on his offer when Ray grabbed her shoulder to hold her back. 

"Come on Sam, it's not worth it," he said in an attempt to calm her. 

"But it's sooo tempting," she replied, glaring at the enraging young man. 

"I know, I know. Just...try not to, OK?"

She seemed to think it over a second before finally sighing in defeat. "Fine."

"Good," Ray nodded then turned to Angewomon. "She does have a point though. We've been walking for a couple of hours now and it'd probably be best if we took a break."

"Come now. This walk hasn't been that hard," she tried to encourage him and the others. 

"That's cause you've been flying for the last couple miles," Ray said in a deadpan voice. 

The angelic Digimon suddenly stopped and looked down at herself and found that, indeed, she was floating several inches about the ground. She gave a nervous laugh and smile before joining the others in standing. 

"*Ahem* Well then, yes, I think a break would be most advantageous for us all," she relented.

"Finally. Now if you'll excuse me...I'm going to find some water to cool my burnt, blistered feet off," Alex muttered. 

"Should we just sat out here in the open like this?" Jon asked, looking around at the large clearing they had stopped in. 

"Sure, why not?" Ray asked. 

"Because we're surround by the forest on all sides. Someone could sneak up on us."

"Eh, you worry too much."

"Just saying that jinxed it you know." Jennifer commented to Jon. 

"Just being here jinx's it. Every time someone stops in a field like this they're always attacked," he advised.

"That's horror movies. This is not a horror movie." Rebecca said calmly

"No, it's a freaking nightmare!" Alex yelled.

"Still..." Jon said, his hand hovering over the handle to his sword.

"Relax a bit. It's not like we'll get the chance to relax all the time. We're basically here to fight a war. Take your breaks when you get them." Jennifer told Jon.

"I dunno. Something just feels...off here."

"Like what?" Ray asked, looking up from his Digivice had and Tentomon had been studying while the others talked. 

"I said I don't know. I just feel like we're being watched."

"With all the Digimon around, you think we wouldn't be watched?" Alex asked sarcastically

Jon ignored him and continued to survey their surroundings until Jennifer finally convinced him to sit down and relax with the rest of them. He hesitated for a moment before finally sitting down near the others and sharing in some of the food Jennifer had brought with her. Within minutes the group was talking and sharing stories about their lives back in the real world. It was soon discovered that Jennifer was the oldest human there, while Ray was the youngest. Though they tried to keep their talks happy and mostly carefree, eventually their conversation led back to their mission and just how they were going to accomplish it. When they asked Angewomon about it all she said was that "All would be revealed in time" which, of course, only served to irritate Alex even further. Their talks were suddenly stopped when Angewomon stood up and stared intensely, as far as anyone could tell, at the forest directly in front of the group. 

"We're not alone," she informed them. 

"I know!" Jon shouted, jumping to his feet and drawing his sword. 

The others followed suit, standing up and preparing themselves as best they could for whatever it was that was approaching them. A rustling sound was heard before a large, green skinned Digimon with a large hanging mouth and long, white hair walked out. After that overly large mouth the thing that caught their attention the most was the equally large club he held in his right hand. 

"Who is this guy?" Ray whispered to Angewomon. 

"Orgemon," she replied still staring at their guest. "He's one of the most despicable and underhanded Digimon alive. He's one of the few the willingly worked for the Dark Generals when they took control of our world."

"Awwww, you're flattering me," Ogremon taunted. 

"You can't defeat all of us."

"Well you're right. *I* can't, but with some help from my friends..."

The green Digimon snapped his fingers and a horde of equally green skinned Digimon appeared out of the forest on either side of them. They were much shorter then Ogremon and carried a smaller version of his club, but it still looked like it could do some damage. They were dressed in a brown wool tunics and had a single wave of red hair spiking out of their heads. 

"And these are?" Jon asked, still holding his sword in front of him.

"Goblimon," Angewomon answered. "They're small but they always travel in packs to overwhelm their enemies."

"Wonderful."

"Now we can do this two ways. You can all give up now and *maybe* we won't hurt you, or you can fight and we *will* hurt you," Ogremon offered. 

"That's a fair offer. What do you say guys?" Ray asked, looking over the group. 

Jon flipped his sword and then held it in a more formidable position. "Not a chance."

"Of course I'm with you," Tentomon spoke up. "This is what we're suppose to be doing apparently."

"I know I'm not going down without a fight," Sam added.

"I can take them! These guys are clowns! Let me at them!" Alex exclaimed loudly.

"I've still have my frying pan, not to mention whatever else is in my bag." Jennifer mentioned.

"I know a few moves." Rebecca told the group calmly.

"Then it's official. Bring it on!" Ray shouted in a challenge.

"Yeah!" Alex said as he charged towards on of the Goblimon.

As he ran, the Goblimon watched him and waited for him to come close to him before finally jumping over the young man and landing behind him. The short Digimon then spun around and hit his club against the back of Alex's kneecap. The shout of the injured man almost seemed like a war signal as the rest of the Goblimon horde suddenly all rushed forward. To their credit the humans did the best they could to defend themselves. Jon used his sword to cut some of their clubs in half and then beat them over the head with the handle of it. Ray fought back with a wrench and screwdriver he had, trying to really to stab his enemies, just cut them a little. His new found partner Tentomon used an attack he called the "Electoshocker" which involved a bolt of electricity launching out from between his antenna and zapping their attackers. Sam on the other hand was kicking and punching as many of them as she could, trying to keep them away from her bike so they wouldn't damage it. She kicked the club out one of the Goblinmon's hands then grabbed it and began to use it herself. Jennifer, true to her word, was using her frying pan to hit any Goblimon that got near her. She managed to his two of them before she was cornered on either side. Ducking as they Goblimon tried to tackle her, Jennifer made her way over to a less congested area. Rebecca's 'few moves' seemed to be a lot more than she let on, as she knocked one Goblimon into two others with a roundhouse kick.

At the very beginning of the battle Angewomon had taken to the air and chased down the instigator of this battle after he had fled into the forest. When she passed by him she swung her foot out and caught him in the head, knocking him down and sending him rolling a bit. She landed in front of him and stared him down as he stood up. 

"I will not allow you to hurt them," she threatened him. 

Ogremon chuckled. "And how are you going to stop me?"

In response, Angewomon held out her left hand and the wings on either side of her glove grew larger. She then held up other hand and a bow and an arrow of light appeared between the wings, pulled back and ready to be launched. Ogremon's eyes went wide as she fired the weapon. 

"Celestial Arrow!" She shouted and let the arrow of light go. 

Orgemon screamed in panic and jumped out of the way of the attack at the last second. He stared at the charged husk of the tree that had once been there before the angelic Digimon's attack hit it. He then turned back to stare at her as she readied another attack. 

"Please! Don't!" He pleaded. 

"Call off your warriors!" She demanded. 

"I will! I will!" He nodded enthusiastically. He then looked up and a suddenly spark of glee appeared in his eyes. "On second thought...no!"

Angewomon quirked an eyebrow behind her mask then slowly turned her head around to see what had made him so happy. Her vision was quickly filled with a large, fast moving plot before whatever it was connected with her head and the blackness of unconsciousness overcame her. Ogremon laughed and stood up, walking over to the creature that had just knocked out his enemy. Though it was large it was still mostly covered with shadows. 

"Nice work. Now head back to the base while we go about rounding up the humans," he ordered.

Alex had managed to roll over on his back, not that it did him any good. His knee was constantly reminding him that if he even tried to get up, he'd be back on the ground in no time. Alex did all he could to help. He shouted comments, warnings and curses, hoping to distract the Goblimon, They hardly seemed to work, but it did get Jennifer's attention, she made her way through the horde as best she could and was standing in front of Alex moments later. Turning quickly to look Alex, Jennifer winced at the purple bruise that was forming on the back of Alex's knee.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Jennifer told the boy.

"Yeah, well you're the idiot who started bringing those green jerks over here." Alex retorted.

"Well excuse me for trying to help you."

"Like I needed the help!"

"Considering you can't even stand up...Yeah I think you DO need help."

"They WERE ignoring me until YOU showed up!" Alex shouted at Jennifer.

"Could you two argue later?!" Jon shouted at them. 

Unfortunately, his voice was drown out by the sounds of battle. The six humans and one Digimon fought as well as they could but the numbers were quickly catching up with them. The fight continued for several more minutes before they were finally overwhelmed. When it was all over the Goblimon gathered up the humans and slumped them unceremoniously into one while placing their weapons and belongings in another pile. They chuckled among themselves at how the "mighty warriors" had fallen before them. Their celebration was cut short, however, when their leader stormed onto the scene, carrying the unconscious Angewomon behind him by the hair. 

"Alright that's enough!" He ordered. "Let's gather them up and get them out of here."

"What about their stuff?" One Goblimon asked, holding Jon's sword. 

"Eh, bring it with us, I'm sure we'll find some use for it." 

The horde did at they were instructed and carried the humans and the one Digimon as best they could back to their village. The hardest part was Sam's bike, which required a small group of them on both side and one on top to properly pull it along. As they made their way through their village, beaming from their victory they failed to notice the small figure watching them from the shadows. He looked over the humans with an intense interest, especially the one he felt he had seen before. As if he knew her or rather SHOULD know her. 

"Could she be..." he wondered then narrowed his eyes. "I must free her and the others."

Jennifer slowly regained consciousness. As she did, she tried to get rid of the haze that seemed to settle in front of her eyes. Once she had, she looked around, trying to figure out where she was. The last she remembered, she had been fighting the Goblimon with her frying pan. Then something hit her from behind, and now she was waking up somewhere else. When the bars came into her vision, she groaned. She and the others no doubt had been captured and were now caged by the Goblimon. Seeing as she was the oldest, Jennifer took it on herself to make sure the others were alright. While her pounding head didn't help her think clearly, she was able to make sure that everyone would be alright. Sure they'd have a headache, but that was livable. Jennifer then looked outside the cage to see if they were being guarded. If they weren't, she might just be able to get everyone out of there. Unfortunately, there were guards, not close to the cage, but close enough, in fact it seemed like they were guarding another cage. Curious as to what was so important in the other cage, Jennifer looked over, saw the Digimon in the cage and screamed.

The others groaned loudly in protest as the hysterical girl's screaming increased the pounding in their heads. 

"Would you stop that screaming," Jon muttered as he tried move but unfortunately found himself strung up in chains with his arms above his head. 

He looked over at the others and saw they were in a similar state, each recovering from the blows they had been dealt. 

"Well this is just great," he groaned. 

"Shut UP ALREADY! Yer makin' it worse!" Alex yelled at Jennifer, who had not stopped screaming.

"It's....it's....it's....."Jennifer tried to say something, but she couldn't find the words to describe what she was seeing. She did stop screaming however.

"It's another Digimon." Rebecca said, "and for the record, screaming is NOT and acceptable way to wake me up."

The others looked into the cell to find out what had caused the girl to have such a dramatic reaction. What they saw was a tell Digimon sitting on the floor with his arms chained behind his back. He was a dark brown color with long tentacles hanging off his head and coming out of his Roman-esque helmet. He was dressed in a lose fitting, forest green shirt and equally fitting black pants. He had armored braces on his wrists that were black as well and they could barely make out his large, hairy feet underneath his body.

"That noise was unbearable! How can something so PUNY scream so loud?" The Digimon asked as the humans continued to stare in his direction.

"We have yet to figure that out. She seems abnormal." Rebecca offered.

"I'm not abnormal...if anyone is, it's Alex." Jennifer defended herself.

"Hey!! Just you wait! When I get down form here...I'm gonna...." Alex yelled.

"Enough! Let's just figure a way to get out of here before we talk about what we're going to do when we do get out," Sam suggested. 

"She's right guys," Ray added. "What we need to do is figure out if anyone still have anything left on them that could help us out."

"I have nothing." Rebecca said

"Same here." Jennifer added.

"Me neither," Jon spoke up. 

"Nothing by the clothes on my back. Thankfully," Sam sighed. "But they better not have hurt my bike!" 

"So I guess that means we're all empty handed. What about you Tentomon?" Ray asked his partner. 

"I could try my Elctro Shocker, but I doubt it's strong enough to break the bars. And even if I did the guards would just attack us," the Digimon concluded. 

"Hey!" One of the said guards banged on the bars with his club. "Keep it down in there!" He then turned to the other Goblimon. "I swear, don't know why Orgemon wanted them alive."

"Probably so he could show them to Lord Senbomon. You know get it in good with the boss so the big boss might notice him," the second one reasoned. 

"Yeah I can see that. And then he'd just leave us here to die in this wasteland." 

"Eh it's not that bad here. We can probably hold it together ourselves."

"Maybe," the first Goblimon mused and then looked back at their captives. "So you think Ogremon's going to have some 'fun' with the human females there?"

"Wouldn't surprise me. He's always been into that captive stuff. It's kinda freaky. And with human woman no less."

"Well you gotta admit it would be interesting."

The second Goblimon looked over the at the objects of their discussion thoughtful, rubbing his chin wit his hand. After a moment a sick smile spread across his green face. 

"Yeah you got a point there. Wouldn't mind having a go at one of them. Maybe the blonde there."

"I kinda like the screamer. I could give her something to scream about."

Jennifer swallowed hard and wished she could move so that she could get away from the Goblimon. Rebecca simply stared stonily at the Digimon.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Sam muttered. 

"Me too." Jennifer commented.

"Hey what do you think about having our fun before the boss arrives? Why way for sloppy seconds, right?" The first Goblimon remarked. 

"Yeah. Sounds like fun," the second agreed. 

The first guard then took the key ring from his belt and unlocked the door to the cell. They chuckled menacingly as they walked up to the two woman they had selected. Sam grunted and struggled against her restraints as hard as she could. She wished she could just get one leg free and kick one of those stupid green, grinning idiots' heads right off. She let out a startled gasp as he reached up and began to pull down the zipper to her leather suit. 

"Get away from me you sicko!" She shouted while still struggling.

"Fireblast!" A voice called out from the door. A fireball flew towards the Goblimon and set their backsides on fire.

The captive humans and Digimon watched this display in surprise and confusion then looked on as a small Digimon, not much larger than their captors walked into the room. The Digimon was holding a wand that had a sun at the top of it. He wore beige and red coveralls and a red vest. The cape that was tied around his neck and hid half of his face, seemed to flair with an imaginary wind. The witch's hat that covered his orange hair had a red-eyed skull on the hatband. His gloves and shoes looked like well-worn leather.

"What is Orko doing here?" Jon joked

"My name is Wizardmon. I am here to help you." The wizard digimon told the humans.

"Can you get us out of these chains?" Ray asked.

"Easily. Freeing Winds." Wizardmon said and soon a wind appeared, broke the chains that held the humans allowing them to fall to the ground.

Once she regained her balance, Sam zipped up her leather suit then walked over to there the Goblimon were still laying lifeless on the other side of the cell and began kicking them relentlessly. The others watched in stunned silence for a moment before Ray was brave enough to walk up to her and grab her shoulder. 

"Easy, easy Sam. That's enough," he tried to calm her. 

"One more!" Sam shouted and then gave them one last parting kick. "There, I feel much better now." 

"Yeah I can imagine," the goggle headed boy said still awesome at the display. "So then, now that we're free the first thing to do is get out stuff back."

"Uh, guys? Anyone notice we're a 'Mon short?" Jon asked. 

The others gave him a quizzical look then suddenly realized that there was on very important person, or rather Digimon, missing from their group. 

"Angewomon!" They all shouted in unison.

"And how are we suppose to get her? Those green idiots caught us once, they'll do it again." Alex commented from the ground while inspecting his purple knee.

"That's a good question," Ray mused then turned his attention to Wizardmon. "You got in here Wizardmon, how'd you get by all the guards?"

"It is simple, when you know how to be invisible" Wizardmon said as he disappeared from sight.

"That doesn't help us much," Jon said. "Unless you can find away to turn us all invisible."

"I can't, but she might be able to." Wizardmon said as he became visible and pointed towards Rebecca.

"Me? How could I do that? I don't have any magic." Rebecca responded, startled the wizard's proclamation.

"That is where you are wrong. You do have magic, you just do not know how to use it." Wizardmon replied.

"You understand what he's saying?" Ray whispered to Tentomon.

"Not at all," the insectiod Digimon replied.

"If I had magic, why couldn't I get us down from those chains? Or heal Alex's knee?" Rebecca asked stoically.

"You could, if you knew how to use your magic. Come, I'll show you." Wizardmon said as he walked over to Alex, "Here, place a hand on his knee and concentrate on it being healed."

Rebecca walked over to Alex, placed a hand on the boy's knee and closed her eyes to concentrate. A faint glow appeared around her hand. It was not enough to heal the knee, but enough to take away the pain. Rebecca was gasping lightly for air as she opened her eyes.

"It doesn't hurt....what did you do? You're a freak, just like sword-boy!" Alex shouted.

"That's a great way to thank her for healing you, ass!" Jon countered.

"It ain't healed dumb-ass! It just doesn't hurt! See it's still purple, and it hurts if I try to bend it, so it ain't healed!" Alex shouted at Jon.

"Guys enough!" Ray shouted, taking command of the situation. "Look we'll worry about all this later. Right now we need to get out stuff back, save Angewomon and then get out of here."

"Free me, and I will help you." The digimon chained in the other cage said in a deep voice.

Ray stopped for a second to consider that then nodded in approval. 

"Alright," he spoke up. 

"Are you sure that's wise?" Tentomon asked. 

"Sure. Why not?"

"That's a Luxmon. They're known for their violent tempers and eagerness to fight. And they're not every pleasant to be around."

"Yeah, well neither is Alex but we still gotta put up with him."

"Good point."

"Wizardmon, can you help me get the cage open?" Jennifer said as she walked over to the cage that Luxmon was in, looking around she noticed that Wizardmon had disappeared, "Wizardmon? Where'd he go?"

"Girl, there is a rock over there. It should be more than enough to break that lock." Luxmon told Jennifer.

"Right." Jennifer quickly retrieved the rock and started hitting the lock with it. The lock gave way and Jennifer went in to get the lock holding Luxmon's chains. The second lock gave away as quickly as the first. "There you go!"

"You do not seem as frightened of me as you first were." Luxmon commented as he rubbed his wrists to get the soreness out of them.

"You startled me, that's why I screamed." Jennifer told the Digimon.

"Yeah and it doesn't seem to take much to do that," Jon commented as he walked by her.

"You're as much of a jerk as Alex, you know that." Jennifer said to Jon's back.

"Hey I think I deserve more credit than that."

"Why? You're being mean just like he is. I see no reason to give you credit. You don't know me or why I'm so easily startled." Jennifer commented.

"Can we please get on with this?" Sam asked, getting irritated with the whole situation

"And how are we suppose to do that? We don't know where our stuff it, like it matters to me, And there's no way to get it back without getting caught again." Alex said to the group.

"There's gotta be some way. We just gotta figure it out," Ray said. 

"Well while we're doing that, might I suggest we not do it in the open like this?" Jon suggested.

"Then perhaps, we should head for those trees." Wizardmon said as he suddenly appeared.

"Where did you go?" Jennifer asked the small Digimon.

"To see where the Goblimon were holding your processions and Angewomon." The wizard Digimon replied.

"Did they hurt my bike?! I swear if they put so much as a chip in the paint I'll..." Sam started

"Worry about that later. We need to find a place to hide. Surely they will be sending others to see what's happened to the guards." Rebecca said as she started towards the trees.

"Point taken. And don't call me Shirley," Jon joked as he quickly followed by the ever-calm woman.

"And how am 'I' suppose to get over there? I can't even stand UP!" Alex fumed from the ground.

"Then let me be your transportation." Luxmon said as he picked Alex up carefully trying to avoid the severely bruised knee.

"Hey man! Let go!...What're ya trying ta do....this is so gay, it's sickening!"

"Well we got him moving, now can you do something to shut him up?" Sam asked.

"If I had a bandana...we could have used it as a gag....but that's in my bag." Jennifer said.

"A pity. We really don't need him giving away our hiding spot." Rebecca commented.

"If you wish, I could knock him unconscious." Luxmon suggested over Alex's protestations.

"Hey!"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Jon remarked. 

"It's tempting....but I think we're going to need everyone for this," Ray reasoned.

"In other words, Shut it Alex!" Jennifer told the protesting boy.

"Fine. But just you wait! I'll get you guys later." Alex said before he crossed his arms and looked away from the group.

Once Alex quieted down, the group made it quickly to the forest and found a spot to hide from the Goblimon. When they were sure that there were not Goblimon around, the humans turned to Wizardmon to ask him about what he had seen. The wizard Digimon told them all that he had seen, calmly Sam's fear about her motorcycle when he told them that none of their belongings had been damaged.

"I did manage to get a few things. Things that would not easily be missed." Wizardmon said as he pulled Rebecca's cards, an orange Digivice and a purple one.

"My cards, and my Digivice. Thank-you, Wizardmon." Rebecca said to the Digimon.

"And my Digivice," Ray said taking the orange one from the Digimon. "Alright so that gives us something to work with. Did you see Angewomon there?"

"Yes, she is being held in Ogremon's tent. He has her locked in a cage hanging there." Wizardmon told Ray.

"This guy's got a serious fetish for hanging people," Jon muttered. 

"Don't remind us." Rebecca said before her Digivice begin to beep, "No, be quiet!"

"So Wizardmon, did you see anyway for us to get in there?" Ray asked.

"Yes, but it will be tricky." Wizardmon said as he turned away from Rebecca's beeping Digivice to answer Ray.

Opening the cover, hoping that would quiet the Digivice, Rebecca saw an arrow pointing towards Wizardmon. Puzzled, she continued to stare. When Wizardmon turned back to look at her, Rebecca felt a connection to the Digimon, which confused her more.

"So, you are the one." Wizardmon said softly.

"The one? What do you mean?" Rebecca asked in a near whisper.

"You were the one I felt the pull towards. That could only have meant that you were in fact one of the warriors that were destined to come to our world and free it. I've been fighting Orgemon and his band for some time but I haven't made much progress. But with you and the others here I believe we can stop them this time," Wizardmon explained.

"So.. you're my partner...I have a magical Digimon...Cool." Rebecca said, grinning almost from ear to ear.

"Look out! Her face is gunna break!" Alex said sarcastically, before Jennifer elbowed him.

"Well it is weird to see her smile," Jon defended Alex a bit. "And it looks good on her."

Rebecca ducked her head and turned away so no one would see her blush. 

"It is a shame you hide your smile from friends." Wizardmon told the blushing girl.

"I haven't had many friends to show my smile to." Rebecca replied.

"Alright, alright we can talk about this later. Right now we have to focus on our plan," Ray interjected.

"Of course. The best way to get into the hut is when Orgemon is sleeping. It will be getting past the Goblimon that will be tricky." Wizardmon told the group.

"Always a problem," Jon sighed. "So how do you suggest we get past them?"

"Quietly. I may be able to put some of them to sleep. It would only be for a short while however."

"It'll have to do," Ray nodded.

The group quickly walked through the now sleeping force of Goblimon. Making their way to the hut that Wizardmon was leading them to was not too difficult, getting in was another matter. Two Goblimon had slumped onto each other right in front of the door.

"Well this is perfect. Anyone have any ideas for dealing with this?" Jon whispered to the group.

"Could someone hold them apart so we can get in?" Jennifer asked softly.

"That might wake them up though," Sam warned.

"Do you have a better idea?" Jennifer replied.

Luxmon quietly walked past the humans and moved the Goblimon blocking their path aside. "Hurry now."

"That works," Ray shrugged then lead the group into the hut. 

He pushed the door open and was thanking that the hinges had been well oiled and didn't squeak. They snuck in as quietly as possible and found themselves in a large room, much larger than they would have thought possible from the outside. It was adorned with various weapons, armor, painting and furniture that obviously represented his other conquests. As they scanned the room, Sam nearly cried out loud as she saw her bike resting against a large closet style chest. She ran over to it and began to rub it fondly. 

"Oooh there's my baby. Did you miss me? I missed you. Yes I did, yes I did," she cooed.

"Does anyone else think it's just a little unnerving that she's talking to her inanimate bike?" Rebecca asked in a whisper.

"I do. What is so important about that mechanical contraption?" Wizardmon asked Rebecca.

"I'm not even sure I want to know why she's so attached to it." Jennifer commented.

"Hey Sam, we're all happy you're back with your bike but I think we should try to find Angewomon now," Ray said, carefully approaching her.

The leather clad blonde turned her head slowly from her precious motorcycle to glare at him. For a second Ray was afraid she was going to attack him, but then she nodded in agreement and walked over to the rest of the group. 

"So where do we start?" She asked.

"First, I think you should all get your belongings. We will no doubt need them. Angewomon is being kept in the next room. I think it is Ogremon's sleeping chambers." Wizardmon told the group.

"There's something I'm going to having ugly dreams about," Jon remarked with a shudder.

"It is most likely the stuff that nightmares are made of." Rebecca agreed.

"So were do you think our stuff is?" Ray asked. 

"It's probably in that chest. Why else would Sam's bike be leaning against it." Jennifer offered.

"Good thinking. Now how do we get into that thing?" Ray mused as he walked over to the chest and examined the lock. "Damn, if I only had my tools I might be able to pick this thing."

"I wish I had a rock. Those locks seem to break really easy." Jennifer commented.

"The lock isn't locked. That is how I was able to get those objects out of the chest." Wizardmon told the group.

Every blinked in surprise as they stared blankly at the wizard Digimon. Ray then turned his attention back to the lock and pulled down on it and sure enough it came undone without so much as a click. He shrugged then through it aside and opened the chest to reveal their belongings inside. Everyone but Rebecca and Alex, rushed forward and grabbed what they could find.

"Why do you not try to get your possessions back?" Wizardmon asked Alex.

"Why bother? There's nothing in there that belongs to me." Alex replied.

"Oh, so you don't want this back?" Jennifer asked, holding up Alex's blue Digivice.

"That thing is a menace. Why would I want it? It's the reason I'm here." Alex sneered.

"I thought the reason you're here was to help us save our world?" Tentomon asked, tilting his head a bit.

"Yeah, and having one of those damn things means ya have'ta 'save the world' I can do without it." Alex said as he glared at the device.

"Well then we don't need you," Jon said turning his sword around in his hand. "Now where's this guy hiding?"

"I'd guess over there," Ray pointed to a door on the other side of the room. "Since it's the only other door I figure that's gotta by his room. So then, how should we approach this?"

"Carefully? I mean he could be awake....he's probably a lot stronger than the Goblimon." Jennifer said slightly hesitantly.

That works too," Ray said weakly. 

He and the others quickly walked into the room and were surprised to find it empty save for a small cage holding Angewomon, who had her arms chained to the top of it. She looked a little worse for wear but as far as they could tell she was alright. Surprisingly, Orgemon was no where to be seen. They thought they had lucked out when a voice from behind them caught their attention.

"Well, well, well," it began. "Look's like the gang's all here."

The group spun around and found Ogremon and a group of Goblimon that hadn't been effected by Wizardmon's spell standing in the doorway.

"I thought you might break out some time tonight so I kept a close watch on my own hut. And when I saw the big hart wearing freak over there I knew it was only a matter of time until you tried something, so I set up this little trap for you all," he explained with a underlining glee.

"I will gut you!" Luxmon said as he sprang forward to attack.

Ogremon smiled and simply sidestepped the large, angry Digimon and then smacked him on the back of the head with his club as he past. Growling, Luxmon quickly stood and lunged at Orgemon again. The humans had their hands full trying to keep the Goblimon away.

Ray and Tentomon had stayed back near the cage holding Angewomon and worked on trying to open the lock. 

"Of course this thing couldn't have been unlocked too," Ray muttered trying to pick the lock with some of his tools. 

"Here step back and let me try," Tentomon suggested. 

The goggle headed human nodded and stepped back. Tentomon extended his wings and hovered for a moment before building up an electric current between his antenna. 

"Electro Shocker!" He shouted, firing the current. 

The lock fizzled for a second before exploding in a shower of metal pieces and caused the door to swing up. The two then stepped into the small cage and after a moment of struggling freed the angelic Digimon. She let out a soft moan as she fell into Ray's arms. He grunted a bit as he pulled her out of the cage. 

"I really hate to say this, but I think you could stand to lose a little weight," he muttered. 

Angewomon smirked a bit. "I'll work on it as soon as we get out of here."

Orgemon grabbed Luxmon and tried to send the other Digimon into the dirt again. Luxmon however was trying to push Orgemon away from the others so that no one would be hurt when he really attacked the ogre. Luxmon succeeded in getting Orgemon away from the main group, however, he was now in a headlock courtesy of Orgemon. Wrapping his arms around Ogremon's waist and lifted the mutant Digimon up, the quickly threw him into a near-by table. Studying the downed Orgemon for a moment, Luxmon turned to help the others with the Goblimon. Ogremon however was not as downed as Luxmon thought and grabbed Luxmon's foot, causing the smaller Digimon to fall to the ground. The ogre like Digimon raised his club above his head to bring it down upon Luxmon's head when it was suddenly met half way with the end of a sword with a resulting "clang" sound. Orgemon looked towards the owner of the sword and saw Jon smirking at him while shaking his head. The longhaired man then pulled his weapon back and readied it for another attack. Before he could, however, another Goblimon tackled him. Luxmon took the opportunity to get up and grabbed Ogremon's club, trying to prevent the digimon from using it on him again. Ogremon shook the club a couple times and Luxmon let go and ducked the next swing of the club. As Ogremon was finishing that swing, Luxmon lunged forward and punched him in the gut.

As Ogremon hunched over from Luxmon's blow, Wizardmon's Thunder Blaster hit him. Ogremon went flying through the door of the hut and landed on the ground somewhere outside. He groaned as he struggled to his feet and watched the fight continue inside and stared dumbfounded as his forces were quickly overwhelmed without him. He was about to charge back into the battle and take control of it when the loud roar of an engine caught his attention. His eyes widened as in horror as Sam practically flew towards him on her bike. He dived out of the way just in the nick of time. He growled and turned back towards the motorcycle-mounted girl and almost attacked her when he noticed the rest of her group walking out of his hut and looking for a fight. He backed up a little bit and smirked. 

"So you think you can all gang up on me, eh?" He asked. "Well guess again cause I have a big surprise for you!"

He snapped his fingers and the ground suddenly began to shake. The group of humans and Digimon watched in stunned horror as a large Digimon sprang out of the ground in front of them. He looked to be made of rocks with several sticking out of his back in the form of spikes and a half metal mask covering the top of his head with straps holding it down on his chin. 

"What is THAT?!" Ray shouted. 

"Golemon," Angewomon replied. "A vicious rock type Digimon that thrives on destruction."

"You got that right sister," Orgemon taunted. "And he obeys my every word. So go get 'em!"

"Yes master," Golemon said faithfully before lunging forward with a feral scream. 

He brought his massive, rock like fist down into the middle of the group, causing them all to scatter to avoid being hurt. The humans stared up weakly at the monster before them, feeling completely helpless. They knew nothing they had could possibly stand against that thing. All they could do now was put their faith in their Digimon, those that had partners at least. 

"How the fuck are we suppose to fight that thing?" Alex yelled

"Wizardmon, can you fight him?" Rebecca asked her Digimon.

"I will try." Was Wizardmon's reply before attacking Golemon with his Thunder Blaster attack. The attack did nothing to Golemon, the golem Digimon wasted no time to returning the attack, sending Wizardmon flying back.

"My turn," Tentomon announced as he flew upwards. "Electro Shocker!"

The current of electricity raced towards his opponent and harmlessly bounced off the other Digimon's rock hard skin. Golemon roared and slammed his fists down onto to the ground, sending a shockwave out that upturned the ground and threw those standing on it off balance. Tentomon flew down towards his partner to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"Are you OK?" He asked Ray.

"Yeah I think so," Ray grunted. "But I think we're in big trouble."

"You can say that again. My attack didn't have any effect on him."

"Do you have a stronger one?"

"Uh...no."

"Great."

Luxmon roared as he ran towards Golemon. His fist was ready to strike the rock Digimon, his eyes were determined to make the strike count. However, before Luxmon could reach Golemon, the rock-type Digimon slammed his fists into the ground again, sending another shockwave towards the group and Luxmon. Luxmon was unable to keep his balance and fell onto the tremoring ground. Once the tremors stopped, Jennifer ran over to Luxmon to make sure he was alright. She was ignoring her Digivice that was beeping incessantly.

"Can't you do anything?" Jon asked Angewomon.

"I'm sorry. I'm still too weak."

"Terrific."

"There's gotta be something we can do!" Ray cried out desperately. 

"But what? He's much too strong for us," Tentomon muttered. 

"I dunno. We just gotta do...something!"

His attention was quickly turned to another problem as he heard Sam cry out. He looked up and saw Golemon standing over her, as she laid helpless on the ground, his fist held up and ready to make her a stain in the damp grass. Ray's mind raced for an answer. He knew he couldn't stand against that thing by himself, but he couldn't just sit back and watch one of his group get killed either. He just had to do something! Unable to come up with any viable answer he simply stopped up and let out a loud, anguished cry of frustration. During his tirade he failed to notice his Digivice's screen glow brightly. Before he knew it the glow had encompassed both him and Tentomon. He stared down at the outline of hid Digimon partner and felt a strange connection with him. It was much stronger than the one they had felt when the first met. It was almost like that could read each other's minds, feel each other's feelings. It was almost as if they were one being. 

While those two where off in their own world, the others watched in stunned silence from the light show going on right before their eyes. The fighting had stopped so that each side could watch as the two beings where encompassed by two blinding lights. The two outlines slowly moved together until they finally collided in an even more brilliant light, illuminating the night sky. Though no one could see it, inside the forcefeild of light a new being began to take shape, combining the best elements of the two separate entities and improving on them. Soon the light dispersed and everyone looked on at the new creature standing there before them. 

He was a little taller than Ray and was dressed in armor that resembled an insect's body. He had on a red mask that covered the top of his head with a pair of antenna sticking up from it and bright green goggles that resembled insect eyes and left a human mouth uncovered. On his back he had a backpack with two large arms on its sides that looked like Tentomon's larger arms and two small thrusters on the bottom of it. His hands now only had three, long, slightly clawed fingers that were covered with black gloves. On top of his right arm was a small panel that appeared to open into some kind of small computer. His chest was covered with a red form-fitting piece of armor and around his waist was a belt adorned with pouches save for the built buckle. His legs appeared mostly human save for the two-toed feet at the bottom of them. 

"What is that?!" Sam asked, still trying to take in what had happened. 

"The true power you and your partners possess," Angewomon replied with a small smile. "That is..."

"TechnoTentomon," the newly created being announced, looking over at Golemon and Orgemon. "And I'm going take you two down."

"That's going to happen to us?" Rebecca asked Wizardmon, who was now beside her.

"So it seems."

"The combination of the two of us will be interesting." Rebecca commented.

"I agree."

Orgemon ignored the comments the two made and continued to look on at the hybrid standing before him in utter terror. That shouldn't have happened. Digimon only evolved into stronger forms, not with humans. That thing shouldn't be in front of him! Despite his best efforts his body trembled in absolute horror as he tried in vain to process what that thing standing right in front of him was. 

"What is that?! I don't understand! What is that thing?!" He shouted. 

"Dead," Golemon growled before running forward. 

He let out a piercing roar as he ran forward, intent on smashing whatever that thing was into a pulp. He brought his fist down but the newly formed TechnoTentomon flew out of the way of the attack then quickly followed it up with a roundhouse kick to Golemon's head, stumbling the rock giant. He stopped and hovered in the air for a second before let out a shout of pain and rubbed his now sore foot.

"Oooow! Man that guy's head is harder than I thought!" He complained. 

Golemon shook his head and then growled as he quickly recovered and tried to grab the annoying half Digimon/half human with both of his hands only to get nothing but air. He looked around in confusion then glanced upward when heard someone call out to him. He caught a glimpse of the two-toed foot just before it connected with the top of his head, forcing him to lurch forward. Before he could recover TechnoTentomon flew forward again and punched the rock Digimon in the gut. Frustrated, Golemon grabbed his attacker's shoulder and tossed him aside. The hybrid shouted as he went sailing through several trees. When he finally came to a stop by crashing onto the ground he groaned in pain and shook his head to clear the cobwebs. 

"Alright this is getting me nowhere," he muttered. "There's gotta be someway to take this guy out. But how?"

His question was answered by a beeping sound on his right arm. He lifted it up and the mini computer popped open to reveal a diagram of Golemon displayed on the screen with a section of his chest glowing. He stared at it blankly for a second before his lips twisted up into a smirk. 

"Oh I got it," he said to himself. 

With a plan now firmly in mind he ignited the thrusters on his jetpack and flew through the forest and back towards the battle. By the time he reached the battlefield he saw his friends once again engaged in hopeless battle against the giant stone Digimon. 

"Yo rock head!" He shouted to earn his opponents attention. "I'm back for round two. And this time you ARE going down!"

"Take your best shot!" Golemon challenge.

"I intend to."

With that the two insect arms on the sides of the jetpack flipped up over his shoulders and the claws on the end began to surge with electricity. He smiled confidently as the power continued to build up, not seeming to care in the least that his enemy was charging ever so closely to him. When the power had built up enough and Golemon was within range he unleashed his new attack. 

"Static Shock!" He shouted and twin beams of powerful electricity shot forward. 

The attack hit dead on, striking Golemon square in the upper chest. He let out a howl of pain as the attack continued to assault him and soon tore through his rock laden flesh, traveled through his body and then exited with a larger wound through his back before dispersing. The giant Digimon made a series of gurgling sounds before he exploded into tiny fragments of data then quickly faded away. TenchoTentomon smiled at his handy work before he floated down to the ground and joined the others as they started to slowly advance on the now frightened Ogremon. 

The Digimon in question backed away from the group until he bumped into a tree and couldn't progress any further. He gulped as he stared at the group before him. The humans, their Digimon partners, a quickly recovering-and clearly angry Angewomon-and whatever that...thing was. He had no more troops and his trump card had just been taken out of the game. This was it. He had now way to fight back or even defend himself. He was going to be destroyed and he knew it. 

*Oh well, better to die a quick death by their hands then what Lord Senbomon would have done to me,* he thought wistfully.

Just when TechnoTentomon was about to strike the finishing blow, a howling came from the sky. TechnoTentomon paused in his strike and looked to see what the noise was. Diving down was a Devidramon, it looked as if it were going to attack the merged Digimon. As Devidramon swooped lower, his course changed and it flew over Ogremon, snatching the ogre off the ground at the last second. Devidramon then used the air currents to lift himself and Ogremon away from the humans. The two Digimon were out of sight before anyone knew what was happening.

"What the hell just happened?" Jon asked. 

"I believe his master wanted to see him about this failure," Angewomon explained. 

"OK, so then what do we do about them?" Sam asked, pointing towards the now fleeing Goblimon.

"There are of no threat now that they don't have a master to lead them."

"If you say so."

"I have a question," TechnoTentomon spoke up, raising his hand a bit. "How exactly do I turn back to normal?"

Angewomon chuckled a bit. "Don't worry, you'll reverted back to yourselves soon enough."

"That's a relief. I mean this is cool and all but no way would I want to be stuck like this!"

"Too bad. You actually look like a freak now, instead of just acting like one." Alex commented from beside the hut.

"Can't you say anything nice? They just saved our lives." Jennifer angrily told Alex.

"No, no I can't. I tried once, it didn't suit me." Alex replied hardly looking at the dark haired girl.

"You are such a jerk!" Jennifer yelled as she took Alex's blue Digivice from one of the pockets on her bag. She then threw the Digivice at the red-haired boy. "This is yours. I'm not going to carry it around for you."

"So if we're done here can we go?" Sam asked. "I'd like to get away from this place as soon as we could."

"Leaving sounds good to me." Rebecca said.

"Yes, the sooner we can get away from here, then better. The enemy will not know where to find us." Luxmon told the group.

"You're going to help us?" Jennifer asked Luxmon, forgetting that her Digivice was beeping.

"Yes. Your group needs to have someone with muscle.....could you please stop that beeping?" Luxmon asked.

"Beeping....OH! My Digivice!" Jennifer pulled her Digivice out of her pocket, opens the cover and looked at it. An arrow was pointing directly at Luxmon. When Jennifer looked up, something inside her pulled at her, as if she knew more about Luxmon, but not. "You.....you...you're my digimon?!"

"Indeed," Angewomon nodded with a smile.

"Rebecca...I think the combination of Luxmon and me will beat out your combination for weirdness..." Jennifer commented.

"Yeah, you'll probably look like a big foot and be scared of yourself." Alex smirked.

"Be silent foolish human." Luxmon growled at Alex, then speaking to Jennifer, "It will be an honor to fight beside you."

"Yeah I'm happy for all of you, but can we please get going now?" Sam asked again. 

The group all nodded in agreement and they set off once again. They continued to walk through most of the night before they finally settled down in a wooded area to sleep the rest of it, and most of the next day, away. By that time Ray and Tentomon had separated and had split off from the group to go think about what happen. Ray sat leaning against a tree and stared at his Digivice while Tentomon simply stood next to him. 

"So how do you think we can fuse again?" Ray asked his partner. 

"I don't know. That's the first time anything like that has happened to me," Tentomon replied. 

"Yeah no kidding. It was cool though, wasn't it? I mean as TechnoTentomon as really kicked ass!"

"That's true, but I don't think we should take it lightly. We did have a tremendous amount of power."

"Afraid we might end up like Ogremon and the rest?"

"Well..." Tentomon halted, lowering his head a bit. 

Ray sighed and looked at his Digivice more intensely. 

"It is a possibility. But then again we're suppose to be some kind of legendary warriors for good so I doubt we could corrected that easily. But you do have a point, we'll have to be careful when we merge."

"If we ever figure out how to do it again," the Digimon pointed out.

"Yeah," Ray chuckled. "Still...I think when we get a grip on how to fuse and handle the power we'll be able to take back this world from all the evil overrunning it. Yeah, we can do it."

The black Digimon, Devidramon, led Ogremon into Senbomon's throne room. The ogre Digimon had tried to escape several times, but no he found himself standing before Senbomon. Devidramon shoved Ogremon forward and the ogre fell to his knees in front of Senbomon. Ogremon didn't even dare to look up at the dark general.

"You disappointed me Ogremon. You failed to kill the humans like you said you would." Senbomon said icily from his throne.

"I...I...that changed! One of the humans and the Digimon with them merged! They shouldn't do that! Please, spare me!" Ogremon pleaded.

"I could do that, but then how would that make me look if I let a failure live. No...I told you I would not be lenient. Devidramon, take him to the pit. Let the Bateman deal with him." Senbomon said, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"No! Anything but that! Please! PLEEEEEEAAAAASSEEEE!!!" Ogremon cried as he was dragged away. 

"That was pathetic," a shadowed figure from behind Senbomon's throne scoffed.

"Indeed is was. You heard what he said. Blaming his failure on a human that merged with a Digimon." Senbomon said to the figure without facing it.

"To be fair it is a strange phenomena but nothing a REAL warrior wouldn't have been able to handle."

"This is true. So, you should have no problems with these humans. I want them destroyed."

"I shall assemble my team at once and I promise you, we WILL finish the job that weakling Ogremon couldn't."

"Good. Make sure to finish the job, or I will allow the Betamon to deal with you next." Senbomon told the shadowed figure.

"It shall be done," the figure replied with a bow before leaving the room.

"Very inspirational," a new, all-too-familiar voice remarked from directly behind Senbomon's throne. 

The Digimon general jumped up and spun around to find himself face-to-face with his own master's visage from his usual coiled snake communicator.

"M-Master Serpentmon!" Senbomon stuttered. 

"So I hear your first attempt to kill the humans was a failure. Why am I not surprised?" The serpentine lord mused.

"One of the humans and a digimon helping them merged, my Lord. It was not something I had anticipated. No one has every heard of such a thing happening."

"Unless of course you have read the ancient texts and know of the prophecy," Serpentmon corrected his lackey.

"But, my Lord, I have no ancient texts." Senbomon complained.

"Of course not! Do you really think I would let a simpleton like you hold onto something so precious? No, those are safely locked away in my castle."

"But, how was I suppose to be prepared for this merged Digimon, my Lord?"

"It's called improvisation. You have to learn to handle unexpected things if you're going to be a proper despot. I mean if I can't count on you to deal with something like that, well then perhaps you don't deserve the land that you've been given."

"I will do better, Master Serpentmon. I was just sent my personal Strike Team after the humans. They will not fail."

"They had better not, because if they fail you fail. And remember you yourself are not above torture."

"I will not forget, Master Serpentmon."

"Good. Now get to work!" 

With that the vision faded and the serpent fell down and snuck back into it's hiding spot, leaving the distraught general alone with his thoughts.

"Should my strike team fail...the cannot fail....but should they fail...they shall feel my wrath before I feel Serpentmon's. I will NOT die alone."


	3. Senbomon's Strike Force Attacks!

**__**

Disclaimer: We do not own Digimon, nor any of the recognizable characters of the show. We do own the original characters that we have created and ask that anyone who wished to use those characters ask us first.

****

AN: Ayanna Wildfire: Sorry it took so long to get this new chapter up. We just couldn't stop writing and ended writing two chapters instead of just one. Then I got the fun job of editing Blackbird's horrific spelling.....He's so going to kill me for that.

Anywho, enjoy the new chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out in the next couple days.

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Takuya: After the gang dealt with the Pumpkinmon problem, they headed out to find some of their Digimon partner. Fortunately, Ray didn't have to wait long because his partner Tentomon found him! Unfortunately, they were attacked by a horde of Goblimon and taken back to their village and imprisoned. While there they ran into Luxmon and Wizardmon, who helped them escape and fight the Goblimon and their leader Orgemon. Too bad Orgemon had an ace up his sleeve in the form of Golemon, but then Ray and Tentomon Fusion Digivolved into TenchoTentomon and whupped butt! Seems like they're off to a good start.

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In the early hours of the morning, one lone figure stood tall among the group of sleeping forms at his feet. He carefully walked away from this, doing his best not to step on anyone's foot, or hand or anything. When he was finally free he walked away from the camp to the tree he had spent time at the night before, remembering that it had an excellent view. He watched as the digital sun came up over the digital landscape. It was still hard for him to believe that this was all some kind of computer program. 

Ray sighed in contentment as he continued to stare at the morning sun's rays watched over everything. It all seemed so peaceful, he could hardly believe that he and the others were in a war fighting to free this world. Right now he couldn't even believe there was a war going on. Then he remembered what had happened the night before and it all came crashing back to him. The fear of himself or the others being killed, the uncertainty of what he should do next and the power that came from fusing with Tentomon. That was the thing that stuck out the most to him. It was such an odd feeling. It wasn't like they were two beings sharing a body, but that they truly were one being with one mind and one purpose. Vaguely he, as TenchoTentomon, had heard Angewomon mention that this was their true power and given what he had felt and was able to do, it didn't doubt it. But still, he had had some trouble fighting that Golemon thing and that was just a lackey. How was he suppose to able to take down one of these generals or even Serpentmon himself? And what about the others? So far only Jennifer and Rebecca had found their partners and there was no telling when they others would find their partners and when they would evolve. 

He let out another sigh, this time one of confusion and weariness. All of this was getting to be a strain on him and apparently their adventure had only just begun. He just wondered why he was worried so much about protecting the others. He felt like he was taking up the role of leader without so much as a vote and wasn't sure anyone would be willing to listen to him. It's not like he had a powerful presence or anything. Hell, all through high school he was just kinda there and didn't really stand out at all. So if he was chosen to be the leader, how the hell was he suppose to handle it?

When something brushed against her leg, Jennifer stiffened in her sleep. About to yell out, the offending object disappeared. However, the sensation had been enough to wake Jennifer from her sleep. Lifting her head slightly, the girl looked around trying to figure out what it had been that brushed her leg. When she saw nothing that could have brushed her leg, Jennifer took another look around. After a moment she noticed that Ray was not there. Worried about the other digidestined, Jennifer carefully got up and looked around for the boy. Noticing him over by the tree he had been under the night before, Jennifer made her way out of the group huddle and over to where Ray was. Walking silently over to the tree, Jennifer sat down beside Ray and the end of the sunrise.

"Beautiful." She said quietly.

Ray jumped a little at the sudden break in the silence and his reverie then calmed down when he saw that it was only Jennifer. 

"Yeah. Use to watch the sunrise all the time when I was home. Course it was usually cause I had been up all night building something, but still..." he let the sentence go unfinished as he looked at the newly risen sun.

"Yeah...I usual only see the sun rise when my dad takes me camping.... where I was going to go before getting dragged here." Jennifer paused for a moment, "What's it like?"

"Huh?"

"Being a Digimon, what's it like?" Jennifer asked a little quieter, as if embarrassed at what she was asking.

"It's...interesting," Ray replied, even though he knew it wasn't a very good one. "Really kinda hard to explain though. There's definitely a sense of power but also...familiarity. Kinda like coming back to an old house or something."

"So....we may have done this before? How else could it be familiar?" Jennifer asked as she rested her head on her hands and her elbows on her knees, "Maybe we're Digimon that were born as humans....wouldn't that be funny?"

"Maybe that wasn't the best way to explain it. I dunno, like I said it's hard to. Something you really have to experience yourself. Which, according to Angewomon we just might."

"That will be....different... I mean have you SEEN my partner? Luxmon....he's a giant! I don't even want to consider what we'd become."

"Yeah I'm sure that'll be something," Ray chuckled a bit. "Probably doesn't help that he's male too. Oh man, that's probably gonna be REALLY messed up!"

"Gee thanks a bunch. What are we going to be....bisexual? Or maybe asexual....that's just too disturbing to think about....this early in the morning." Jennifer said as she considered the possible outcomes.

"Sorry, sorry, just couldn't help myself," the goggled boy replied as he controlled his laughter. 

Another silence enveloped them as they simply sat there and stared at the landscape. 

"So why do you think you're here?" Ray asked suddenly

"What do you mean? I thought we were all here to save the Digital World." Jennifer replied, somewhat unsure of what Ray meant.

"But why us specifically? I mean out of everyone in the world, why were WE chosen?"

"Luck, chance, fate...take your choice. Maybe we're the best they had to choose from. Or maybe it's our destiny. I don't' know. All I know is that we're here and we have to save this world." The girl answered.

"No pressure right?"

"None at all. I mean this is normal, right?" Jennifer let a smirk appear on her face while trying to hold back the laughter that threatened to erupt from her.

"Of course. Everyone's been to another world they had to save from a mad tyrant while at the same time being able to fuse with some weird animal digital monster thing. They just never told us about it," he added to the air of amusement.

"Well...that just proves it...I'm ALWAYS the last to know anything....I guess this means we're on our own and have to find out how to defeat the mad tyrant ourselves. I mean how hard could it be? There's thousands of people like him..." Jennifer managed to say before she broke down into soft giggles.

Ray tried to add retort but it was lost in a fit of his own giggles. Eventually the two were overcome by their amusement and were laughing out loud quickly. They laughed for several minutes, letting their laughter push aside all the worry and confusion floating through their minds. 

Too quickly for them though the fit subsided and they where left catching their breathes and wiping away stray tears from their eyes. 

"Well that was fun," Ray remarked.

"Yeah, I think we needed that." Jennifer replied.

"Would the two of you SHUT-UP!! Some of us are still tryin' ta get some Sleep!" Alex's voice came from the camp.

"Like that's not going to wake everyone up?" Jennifer queried the boy beside her.

"Personally, I don't think he cares much," Ray replied.

"No, he doesn't seem to. That could be a problem....Rebecca did a reading the first night we were here...we have the power to do what we will in this world. We can save it or ....we can destroy it... That's what Rebecca's cards said." Jennifer told the goggled boy.

"Well don't look at me to confirm that I don't understand or even believe in that stuff."

"I'm not...I'm just passing information on. If Rebecca really DOES have magic....maybe her cards is how she uses it. She seems to know a lot about them." Jennifer replied.

"I guess," Ray said as he looked back towards the sleeping from of the girl in question. "Still I'll believe it when I see it."

"You did already see magic though. Wizardmon turned himself invisible, right in front of us. He knows about magic, if he says Rebecca has magic....shouldn't we believe him enough to help Rebecca find out for herself?"

Ray thought about it for a moment. 

"Alright ya got me there," he relented.

"Good, then you can help me think of a way to get Rebecca to try to do magic...it could be...sub-conscious..." Jennifer trailed off thinking of how Rebecca's magic might work.

"Uh...maybe you should talk it over with her. Like I said, I'm not really big into magic and all that."

"I know, but you built things...so you have to figure out how they WORK to make them, right?"

"Yeah but that's different. Those are things I can sit down and study. Things I can hold in my hands. Magic is just too abstract a concept for me to really examine."

"Hmm....but your perspective might help. You view things in a different way and so you might notice something everyone else misses."

"I...guess. I'm not making any promises though."

"Did I ask you to?" Jennifer ask as she stood up, then held her hand out to help Ray up, "Well...I think it's about time we got the others up. What do you think?"

"Yeah," he replied as he took the offered hand and pulled himself. "We should probably be head out early anyway. Course it'd really help if we knew where we're going."

"Yes, it would. But we DO have a guide, so we should probably ask Angewomon." Jennifer said as she started back towards where everyone was sleeping, intent on waking Alex up.

"No need for that," Angewomon spoke up, appearing before them.

"WAHHH! Don't DO THAT!" Jennifer yelled as she jumped half out of her skin.

Jennifer's scream succeeded in waking up the rest of the group only not as peacefully as they had planned. Everyone jumped to their feet, looking around erratically in fear of something attacking them.

"What?! What?! What's is it?! What's going on?!" Jon questioned with his sword at the ready.

"Relax, it's just Jennifer reacting to something again. What was it this time? A bug?" Rebecca asked, her calm teetering on the edge of anger.

"She just appeared out of nowhere! It's not MY fault, she startled me!" The reactive girl replied.

"Forgive me, I forget how easily some people scare by my ability," Angewomon apologized.

"Just...please don't do it again. My cat does it enough to me, I really don't want that to start all over again."

"Besides, we don't need ta wake up to Scardy-cat there screaming 'bloody murder' every morning." Alex growled from where he stood.

"Would you rather not wake up at all?" Sam questioned as she pulled on her leather suit.

"If it's a false alarm....yeah!" Alex told the girl.

"Fine, get killed for all I care. Hell it'd probably do us all a big favor."

"OK, OK, we don't need to deal with this this early in the morning," Ray said as he stepped in between the two. "Let's just get going." 

"Who died and made you God goggles?" The angry boy asked before Jennifer elbowed him.

"Shut-UP already. Complain about your feet, at least then we can ignore you."

"He does raise an interesting point though, surprisingly enough," Jon said. "We probably should pick someone to be the leader. We can't just survived on blind luck all the time."

"Luck runs out....so who should lead?" Rebecca asked.

"Anyone but him," Sam retorted pointing towards Alex

"I second that." Jennifer agreed quickly.

"Third," Jon spoke up.

"Fourth," Ray added

"Fifth." Rebecca finished calmly, "So, it will not be Alex. Anyone else?"

"Hey! I can lead, if I wanted to. You losers just don't realize the talent I have." Alex protested.

"A talent for hot air...." Jennifer added quietly.

"Yeah. Now let's think of a good leader," Sam said and then thought for a second. "What about Ray?"

"What?!" The boy in question squawked in surprise.

"Sounds good to me!" Jennifer piped up.

"He was the first to Digi-volve..." Rebecca commented.

"That's gotta count for something," Jon added. 

"Indeed. It's not every day something like that happens. In fact, this was the FIRST time that's ever happened," Tentomon said. "But from what I was able to pick up from him when we where fused I think he'd make a good leader." 

"Hey, now wait a minute..." Ray stared to protest.

"All for Ray as leader, say 'Aye'" Jennifer said before Ray could continue his protest.

"Aye," the others, save for Alex vote. 

"I believe it's decided then. Congratulations," Angewomon said, placing her hand on the newly appointed leader's shoulder.

"Gee thanks," Ray muttered, sagging his shoulders a bit.

"You'll do great!" Jennifer said as she gave Ray a swift pat to his back.

"I agree." Rebecca added.

"And we'll be here to help you out along the way," Sam commented.

"Could have done a lot worse," Jon remarked.

"Yeah, we could have made Alex the leader." Jennifer said as she began to pack up the few things that she had taken out of her bag last night.

"Well then I guess the first thing we should do is pack up and head out. Where will we be heading out to anyway?" Ray asked Angewomon.

"Just follow me and everything should be find. I believe we'll find another one of your partners soon," she replied.

"I bet it'll be Sam's or Jon's. Alex's partner would be running for hills by now." Jennifer smirked as she looked around for a book of matches.

"Actually only in-training Digimon would be afraid of humans. Most others are more than likely to attack him," Tentomon said matter-of-factly.

"Did you hear that Alex? You should stay closer to the group today. Or you might end up as something's lunch." Rebecca commented.

"How can I keep up with you guys when I have to feel EVERY PEBBLE I step on?" Alex yelled at the group.

"How about I cut off your feet? Maybe that'll help," Jon threatened.

"How about I shove that sword up you..."Alex started, but was cut off by a large hand covering his mouth.

"Such comments are unnecessary and distract from the task as hand. We need to stay together as a group and move fast. I will carry you until we can find materials for shoes." Luxmon growled lowly to Alex.

"Alright then, if we're all ready let's move out!" Ray said enthusiastically.

"Whatever." Alex said grumpily as Luxmon picked him up.

"Let's go and find the next Digimon!" Jennifer shouted as she hefted her bag up onto her back.

The others all nodded in agreement and they quickly gathered the rest of their things and headed out. As usual they followed Angewomon as she lead them through the rest of the forest and into a desert like area that consisted mostly of cliffs and dry earth. 

***

Their trek consisted of the usual talk and worry about what would spring out at them next. They were so engrossed with their discussions that they failed to notice the winged figure several miles above them. It made a few circles around them before flying off. It soon landed on a cliff ledge where it met up with six other figures. 

"They should arriving at the bridge very shortly," it reported to a taller figure. 

"Excellent," the other said then turned towards the rest. "We will attack them there and only when I give the command. Is that understood?"

A round of submissive mumbles followed the question. 

"For everyone?" The lead figured asked, leaning towards a smaller one.

"Yeah, yeah I got it. I won't attack until you say so, oh fearless leader," a feminine voice replied sarcastically.

"You had better not."

***

The humans and Digimon trekked through the forest until they reached a cliff, still leading the way Angewomon led the group to an old wooden plank bridge. The bridge looked as if it could collapse at the slightest breeze, the ropes looked as though they had been holding the wood up for ages and the planks looked as if they had been chewed on by termites.

"We have to go across THAT?" Alex asked loudly.

"Yes," Angewomon simply replied. 

"Uh...I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," Ray cautioned.

"It doesn't look that sturdy." Jennifer commented.

"Sturdy? Sturdy? That thing's ready to fall APART!" Alex yelled.

"I think I can take it," Sam muttered as she slipped on her helmet. 

"'Take it'? What do you mean 'take it'?!" Ray shouted as he turned to face the reckless blonde, only to find her on her bike.

Before he, or the others, could say anything else she kicked started her engine and revved it up, effectively drowning out their objections. 

"Make way!" She warned. 

The others let out a series of started screams as they jumped in every direction to avoid Sam's bike as it roared past them and onto the old bridge. They all watched with baited breathed as the bike jumped slightly while it zoomed over the shaking wooden planks. In seconds that seemed like hours, Sam was on the other side and waving them over. 

"Come on! Seems safe enough to me!" She shouted back at them

"She's insane." Rebecca said, her eyes wide at the stunt that Sam had just pulled off.

"Yeah, I agree with you on that Rebecca." Jennifer said as she started to get over the shock of Sam nearly running her over and then flying across the rickety bridge.

"Well it did prove that the bridge is sturdy," Tentomon offered.

"What are you worried about? You could just fly over it," Ray quipped.

"Oh yeah."

"I am NOT going OVER that thing!" Alex yelled from where he was standing, Luxmon had put him down after Sam had sped through the group.

"Fine you can stay here and be attacked by some horrible monster," Jon remarked and then began to walk over the bridge himself. He took a few steps onto it before turning back towards the others. "Coming?"

Most of the others shrugged and started across the bridge. Jennifer and Rebecca followed Jon with Ray behind them. Luxmon picked up Alex and carried him over while Wizardmon cast a levitation spell on himself and floated over with Tentomon and Angewomon. Halfway across the bridge began to creak at the weight of having so many people on it.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all," Ray said as the bridge swayed from side to side.

"Ya think?" Alex asked, his arms folded across his chest, glaring at the rest of the group.

"BE quiet Alex. Everyone just needs to move a little faster." Jennifer said as she tried to move across the bridge quicker.

Those that where walking followed her lead and tried to walk faster while the flyers were already across and waiting for them with Sam. Unfortunately, they where so intent on the task at hand that they failed to noticed the seven figures on the cliff above them. The lead figure narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared intently at his targets.

"Now," he started. "ATTACK!!!"

The sudden outburst caused the assembled group below to turn their heads towards the source of it. What they saw were three figures descending on the ones still on the bridge while four more attacked those on the other side

The three descending on those still on the bridge where lead by what looked to be a human insect followed by a humanoid bird with swords hanging at his sides and a white skinned girl in a black outfit with navy blue hair. As they closed in on their helpless victims below, a sadistic smile appeared on the girl's face. 

"This should be fun," she muttered. 

"Just remember what I told you," the leader scolded. 

"Alright. I told ya I already got it. Now I'm gonna get them!"

While the two flyers fought, Ray stared up at the scene with an overwhelming sense of dread. This would be his first battle as the official leader of the group and so far he could only think of one thing for them to do. 

"Run," he rasped out from a suddenly parched mouth. "RUUUNN!!!!" 

The others stood still as statues for all of second before they followed their leader's advise, trying to get across the bridge as quickly and safely as they could. Being the closest to the other side, Jon made it to solid ground first. Turning quickly he held out his hand for Jennifer so that she could have something stable to hold onto as she reached the end of the bridge. As soon as Jennifer grabbed his hand, he pulled her towards safety. As soon as she had her feet on the ground, Jon turned to back to the bridge to offer his support for Rebecca. As Rebecca reached for Jon's hand, Jon pulled too hard for the girl and she tripped at the end of the bridge, taking Ray who was behind her down as he reached the end.

"Oh no you don't," the white skinned girl smirked.

She held up her right arm and her hand began to glow dark blue. Her smirk turned into a malicious grin as she aimed it at the bridge. 

"Plasma Blast!" She shouted then a beam of destructive energy raced towards the group below. 

The blast connected with the bridge just behind those remaining on it and split it down the middle and causing the two sides to slam into the cliff sides. 

Luxmon held onto the bridge with one hand and onto Alex with his other. Looking down, Luxmon realized that there was not enough of the bridge left for him to get a good enough foothold to carry both himself and Alex up to the edge. Hefting Alex up, Luxmon looked at the human boy and made his decision.

"I cannot carry us both up. The footholds are not good enough to allow that. You will have to pull yourself up to the ledge." Luxmon told the human.

"And how do ya expect me ta do that? I have no shoes! I'll get splinters in my feet." Alex griped.

"It is either that, or we will both fall to our doom." Luxmon replied.

Alex thought it over for a second He realized that he had little choice in the matter, much like everything in the Digital world, "Ok, help me onto to the bridge and I'll climb."

"Good choice." Luxmon said as he extended the arm holding Alex up as far as he could to give the human a better chance of getting a good grip on the bridge.

"This'll be like shooting fish in a barrel," the flying girl said gleefully as she aimed a charged hand at the struggling human and Digimon.

"No!" The bird like creature shouted as he grabbed her arm. 

"Karatenmon?! What the hell are you doing?!"

"There is no honor in this KuroiHimon," the other warrior replied.

"Honor?! Honor shmonor! I wanna kill somebody!"

"And we will. But I agree with him, we should at least give them a fighting chance," the leader spoke up. "Besides," his eyes focused on Ray and Tentomon, "I want to see this human/Digimon hybrid for myself."

Meanwhile, Jennifer and Jon were trying to help Ray up onto the ledge. They had had little success due to the fact that every time they reached down to help the goggled boy, their balance would shift and cause them to almost fall over the side. There wasn't enough time for Jennifer to go through her bag for the rope she knew she had. The attackers were getting closer and even if they did get Ray up, there was still Alex and Luxmon to help. Turning so she could look over her shoulder, she looked at Tentomon.

"Can't you help? You can fly." Jennifer asked the insect Digimon.

"Uh...well I can try to fight off our attackers, but I don't think I can lift him up. As you can see I'm not that big," the red Digimon replied.

"You can't maybe ...I don't know...give him a push? You can't fight all of those guys by yourself." Jennifer said as she tried to reach down for Ray again. He had managed to get only plank closer, but it was still not enough for her and Jon to pull him over the edge.

"I can pull him and the others up, but I need someone to keep them away from me," Angewomon spoke up, pointing up to the fly Digimon.

"That's still one against three. I don't really like those odds," Tentomon cringed.

"Two against three. My magic is useless to help humans, but fighting Digimon. That it is very good at." Wizardmon spoke up as he floated over to where Tentomon was.

"I suppose I could hold them off long enough."

"Good," Angewomon nodded. "Do your best and I shall get the others."

"We shall do what we can." Wizardmon said as he headed towards the flying Digimon, throwing one of his Thunder Blasters as he went.

Tentomon followed suit and let lose with one of his Electro Shockers. The two blasts flew towards their attackers, but they flew out of the way in time to avoid them. 

"So what do we do now Stingmon?" KuroiHimon asked her leader in a snide tone. 

"We attack of course. You two handle the bug and magician. I'll try to get the angel," Stingmon ordered. 

"I got the bug!" The longhaired female shouted before diving straight down towards her intended target. 

"I shall handle the other one then," Karatenmon said before he too flew forward to meet his opponent. 

The humanoid bird dove straight towards the incoming wizard and stopped just short of hitting him, allowing enough space so that he could bow as best he could. 

"I am Karatenmon," he introduced himself. "And I shall be your opponent."

"So be it. Terror Game!" Wizardmon yelled out his attack and set it flying toward the bird-like Digimon.

In a flash, Karatenmon drew one of his swords and dispelled the attack. He then flew forward and took a swipe at the wizard. Wizardmon turned at the last second and the swords merely took a small sliver out of his cape.

"Too close." Wizardmon muttered to himself.

His opponent followed up his attack by spreading his arms wide and then bring his right knee up to ram it into Wizardmon's stomach. He flipped the blade around in his hand and then poised the weapon to run his enemy through. As Karatenmon flew closer, the hunched over Wizardmon drew out his wand and fired a Thunder Blaster at the other Digimon. The bird like Digimon let out a howl of pain as the electricity raced through him and after a few excruciating moments, he backed away from the other fighter and shook his head to try to regain his senses. Taking advantaged of the momentary break, Wizardmon eased himself upright and poised himself to attack again.

While those two continued to battle, Tentomon sized up his own opponent and judging by the sadistic grin covering her face he had a sinking feeling that he had bitten off more than he could chew. He braced himself but before he could launch an attack, he had one heaved his way in the form of a light blue energy ball. He let out a shriek of terror and surprise and just barely had time to move out of the way of the blast. He then decided that he had been right before and turned to fly away from the insane Digimon behind him. 

"Come back here little buggy!" KuroiHimon shouted as she launched blast after blast as the fleeing Tentomon. 

The mid-air game of cat and mouse continued for several minutes with Tentomon running flying as fast as he could to increase the gap between himself and his attacker but even with that, KuroiHimon simply increased the amounts of her blasts, slowly drawing them closer and closer to her target. The insectoid Digimon realized she was just toying with him and knew he had to fight back at some point but wasn't sure exactly what he could do. Judging by the strength of her attacks she was a higher level than he was and even if he could land a hit on her, it probably wouldn't have much of an effect. 

*Still, anything's better than this,* he thought. 

With that thought in mind he quickly stopped his wings to fall down below the other Digimon's attack line. As he had suspected she was flying too fast to stop in time to follow his movements and he used that moment of disorientation to fly back up to her level and let lose with one of his "Super Shocker" attacks. It hit dead on and caused KuroiHimon to cry out in pain, but did little more than damage other than to leave her singed. She slowly turned around to face him, an angry glare replacing the smirk she had early. 

"How DARE you!!!" She shouted then brought both her hands forward. "Double Plasma Blast!"

The increased blast slammed into the smaller Digimon with such force that it sent him flying away from her and into straight into the battle between Karatenmon and Wizardmon. Tentomon collided with the cowled magician and it sent them both flying towards the ground below. Karatenmon looked towards the one that had disrupted his fight and narrowed his eyes that the white skinned Digi-girl. 

"So I screwed up your battle, shoot me," she shrugged. 

"I may take you up on that offer one day," the warrior replied.

"Just try it."

Rebecca had been watching both fights and had become increasingly worried about her Digimon partner when she saw how Karatenmon fraught. Wizardmon had barely missed what could have been fatal attacks. And Tentomon had barely held his own against KuroiHimon before he had been sent flying into Wizardmon. It had been when the two Digimon had hit the ground that Rebecca had realized that their problems were more than just the two Digimon attacking from the air. The rest of the Digimon were advancing towards them on the ground. Not quite sure what to do, the longhaired girl moved over to where the rescue effort was and tried to think of a way to help.

"There are more Digimon coming. Hurrying would be good."

"Well gee, thanks for that insight," Jon remarked sarcastically as he continued to struggle to pull Ray up.

"Don't worry. I have these two," Angewomon said as she floated upwards with Alex and Luxmon in tow.

"So it's only goggle-boy holding us up." Jennifer said as she wrestled with keeping her balance and helping get Ray up onto the ledge.

"Uh guys you seriously may want to hurry," Sam insisted as she watched a Digimon in a blue and white suit with lighting bolt designs on his arms and skates on his feet coming closer to her. 

"We're TRYING! Ever think to try and HELP us?" Jennifer yelled back to the girl.

"And turn my back on these creeps?!"

"We would get out of here sooner if we all helped." Rebecca said.

"Ah, are the poor little humans having problems?" The blue clad Digimon snickered as he stepped over closer to them. 

"Stay away from us." Rebecca all but growled at the Digimon.

"You gonna make me?"

"If I have to." Rebecca told the Digimon as she pulled out her tarot cards, for a reason she herself didn't understand.

A dinosaur looking Digimon began to advance towards Sam. It looked like a stegosaurus but where the normal dinosaur would have had bone armor, this Digimon had steel. The plates the decorated his back looked razor sharp and just as deadly. Every step the Dinosaur took seemed to shake the earth and that was hindering the rescue effort even more as Angewomon had just managed to get both Luxmon and Alex safely on the ground.

"Trapped like rats," Stingmon muttered as he watched his troops advance on the helpless humans. "This really is disappointing. I'd hope they'd put up a better fight than this. Alright then, finish it."

"I thought you'd never ask!" KuroiHimon said enthusiastically before firing another barrage of Plasma Blasts at the bridge. 

Jon and Jennifer were blown backwards as the blasts connected with the cliff wall, creating a shower of dirt clumps and dust clouds as it exploded. Time seemed to slow down as humans and their partners' attention were all drawn to Ray as he fell with the now completely disconnected bridge. He clung desperately to the planks even though he knew they would do nothing to save him from his fate. 

"NOOOOOOO!!!" Tentomon shouted and with renewed strength flew down after his partner. 

As he flew down towards Ray, his mind raced with ideas of how he could help him. Nothing really came to him but if he could just reach the goggle headed boy then maybe, just maybe...

With the thoughts of rescue filling his mind, Tentomon's body began to glow as he grew ever closer to Ray.

"This is it," Stingmon muttered excitedly as a glow filled the mist covered valley below him.

Soon a new form emerged from the depths, this one the merged from of TenchoTentomon. He flew upwards until he was eye level with who he assumed was the leader of the group that had attacked his friends and very nearly ended his life. He glanced between the other two flyers that flanked each side of him. 

"Leave us," Stingmon ordered.

"But-" KuroiHimon started to protest.

"I said leave us! You can have the others, but this one's mine."

"Fine."

The other two flew down to join their comrades on the ground and for a moment TechnoTentomon felt an urge to stop them, but he knew he had to concentrate on the biggest threat right now. He just hoped the others could handle themselves.

"Finally, you're here. And I can test you power for myself," Stingmon said with barely contained excitement as he extended one of the spike on his arms. "Now let's see how strong you really are! Spiking Strike!"

The elongated spike began to glow bright red as he cocked his arm back and then flew forwards. When he was within range he thrust his arm forward, intending to impale his opponent, only to have the hybrid float to the side to avoid it. He then wrapped his arms around the outstretched appendage and brought his fist closet to Stingmon up to punch him in the face. 

The other Digimon groaned but quickly shook off the pain and slammed his fist into the hybrid's backpack, causing his jets to flicker for a moment. It was all Stingmon needed to break out of TenchoTentomon hold, however, and once freed he grabbed him by the back of the neck and then began punching him repeatedly in the stomach. 

TenchoTentomon let out a few grunts as each blow hit him. His chest armor provided some protection, but he could still feel the hits. During the momentary break when Stingmon reared his fist back, he brought his own forward and punched the insectoid in the chest. He quickly followed that up with a left cross square in the evil Digimon's face that sent him flying into the opposite side of the cliff.

Stingmon growled as he dug himself out of the small crater created from his impact then launched himself out of it straight towards the creature that had put him there. TechnoTentomon maximized the output of his jets and flew forward as well. The two stared at one another as they drew ever closer together. They finally collided with a slight bang sound and grasped the others hands then began a struggle to over power the other. 

The others on the ground looked at the struggle while trying to figure out a way to escape from the other Digimon. The pale female was closing in quickly and the ones on the ground were moving to surround them.

"We should retreat." Rebecca told the others quietly.

"But where to?" Jon asked, backing away from the large bird walking his way.

"And how do we get around them?" Sam added, motioning to the other Digimon.

"That, I don't know." Rebecca replied.

"We can not fight all of these Digimon, we need to find a way to get away from them." Luxmon said.

"Again, that's the really hard part," Sam repeated.

"There has to be someway out." Jennifer said as she backed into Luxmon.

"Only one way I can see it," Jon said through gritted teeth as he drew his sword. "We damn well better be the chosen ones or we're about to get our asses thoroughly kicked."

"I'd say our asses are gonna get kicked." Alex said from where he was standing.

"Not if I can help it," trench coat laden man said as he walked forward. *Just hope I know what I'm doing,* he though in dismay. 

He continued to walk forward until he was sure he was a good distance from the others then stopped and took a defensive stance. Much to his surprise his would-be opponent stopped as well. He drew one of the swords from his belt. 

"I am under the firm belief that one should know his opponent before engaging in battle. I am Karatenmon," he said with a slight bow. 

"Jon McCloud," the human replied, returning the bow with after a slight confused pause.

"Good. Now we may begin."

With that, the bird Digimon flapped his wings to levitate himself off the ground and then rushed forward, his sword at the ready. Jon's body seemed to act on its own as it drew his own sword upward to block the swipe that his foe took at him. Unfortunately, the attack held such force behind it that it knocked him off his feet. 

"Great," he muttered. 

Before he could say or think anything else Karatenmon followed up with his attack by slicing downwards, but again Jon countered it with his own blade. He pushed the sword away then jumped to his feet and tried to take a slice out of the Digimon's side only for his blade to be countered with time. The blades when back simultaneously and each combatant took a defensive stance, readying themselves for the next bout. 

***

Wizardmon had made his way over to Rebecca as soon as the battle between the swordsmen had started, he watched the results of the battle with interest. A human facing one of the most skilled sword-digimon was unheard of. A human in the digital world had been unheard of before these humans had appeared. Turning to his human partner, Wizardmon saw that the girl was worried. He could not see it on her face as it was almost emotionless, it was Rebecca's fighting fingers that told him that the girl was worried. Her tarot cards still in one hand, the girl was unconsciously shuffling the cards.

"Why do you not help with your magic?" Wizardmon asked his human partner.

"I don't know how to use magic." Rebecca calmly replied to the Digimon.

While the Rebecca and Wizardmon watched their teammate with concern, Jon had his attention focused solely on the opponent in front of him. From the brief exchange they just had he could already tell that this Karatenmon was a skilled swordsman or Digimon, or whatever. The point was he was really good and Jon was...well not. He knew a few moves from his exercises but not enough to take on some with this level of skill. Still...something inside him seemed to push him on. Something that told him he could stand a few minutes with this enemy, but not much longer than that. Still, maybe it'd be enough to let his friends get away. Or at least keep them from worrying about Karatenmon attacking them for a bit. 

He took a deep breath to steady his nerves then grasped the handle with two hands and held it towards his side as he began a charge towards the other swordsman. Karatenmon accepted the silent challenge and mimic Jon's actions. They stopped mid way in their charge and swung their weapons forward, the blades meeting with a loud, echoing "clang" and a small shower of sparks. 

The two held their blades together for a moment before pulling back and beginning a dangerous dance of perries and thrusts.

Worrying about the other Digimon that were advancing on their position, Jennifer tried to see where her bag was. The girl thought that if she could just get to her bag, she might be able to use it as a projectile weapon at least once and maybe scare off one of the attacking Digimon. Her backpack however was over by Sam and she was on the other side of the sword battle from it. Thinking of sprinting over to were her bag was, Jennifer started to tense and make herself ready to run past the duelers, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her from taking the risky run.

"You cannot get to it. Trust one of the others to retrieve it. It would be foolish to run past a sword battle for a bag of items, no matter how precious those items are." Luxmon's voice rumbled from behind her.

"But I could use it. I could throw it at one of the Digimon, maybe scare it off." Jennifer said, trying to convince herself that her hastily though up plan would work.

"These Digimon are warriors. You can see it in how they fight. One bag would not scare them off." Jennifer's Digimon partner told her.

"I have to do something. I hate being helpless." Jennifer replied.

"Not may of us do." Luxmon said as he watched the progress of the Digimon that were ground-based.

"Well if you really feel that way then I'll give you something to do," the white skinned girl said as she floated down in front of them. 

Since she was so close to them they could clearly make out her attire now. It was all navy blue with a sleeveless top and mini-skirt with a segmented ring of metal wrapped around her waist. She had knee high boots with steel plates on the toes and two, arm length, fingerless gloves. She gave the human and Digimon standing in front of her an evil grin as her eyes began to blue bright blue, as did her right hand.

"So, who wants to be first?" She asked.

"I will fight you." Luxmon said as she stepped in front of Jennifer, hoping to shield her from the other Digimon's attack.

"Fine by me. So let's start it off with this. Plasma Blast!" KuroiHimon shouted as the fired a blue bolt from her hand.

Luxmon drew a sword out of the sheath be his side and used it to block the blue bolt of energy that descended on him. Once he was sure that he had control over the blast, Luxmon forced the blast away from himself, sending it flying towards on of the ground based Digimon, who were still closing in on their position.

"Child's play. Try this. Sword Blaster!" Luxmon yelled as he aimed the tip of his sword at KuroiHimon. The sword split down the middle and started to collect an energy blast. Once the energy was at it's maximum, it was sent flying towards the air-borne Digimon.

KuroiHimon's eyes widened a bit as she saw the blast coming towards her and then took to the air just in time to avoid it. She hovered above her two targets and after a quick growl she unleashed a volley of blasts on the two.

Luxmon blocked as many blasts as he could, the number of blasts made it impossible for him to block all of them. He did his best however, only missing three of the ten blasts. Jennifer managed to dodge the blasts that Luxmon had missed, even so the last one was far too close for her comfort, the blast had hit the ground less than an inch from her.

With her eyes wide and gasping for air, Jennifer tried again to see if there was a way to get away from the advancing Digimon. The only way that was open to them was down the cliff, and that was not a good option. The cliffs were almost vertical and ragged. No one could survive climbing down them or falling down them. Wishing she wasn't so helpless, the girl watched as Luxmon returned fire on the flying Digimon.

The Digimon in question continued her assault in vain until she calmed down enough to think of a good strategy. She altered the angle of her hands and fired at the ground, causing a cloud of dust two envelope the Digimon and human girl. She took the moment of confusion to fly downward and land a hard right punch squarely on Luxmon's jaw.

Grunting as he fell, Luxmon didn't have time to try and avoid hitting Jennifer. The oldest girl, for her part, had been trying to find a way out of the dust that had clouded her vision when Luxmon crashed into her. 

"Ouch." Jennifer said from beneath Luxmon.

"Now that's what I like to hear," their attacker grinned. "Just get ready to do some more screaming."

"You are the one who will be screaming." Luxmon said as he got to his feet and started firing at the other Digimon.

"Oh really? Well then bring it on!"

"I intend to." He replied as he pouring everything he had into his attacks.

KuroiHimon jumped, ducked, flew and anything else she could think of to avoid the brunt of the attacks, but some of them still grazed her. Unfortunately, for all the effort Luxmon was putting into them they seemed to have very little effect on her. He growled and fired another blast, which she also dodge, but her movements caused her hair to flow just in the way of the blast. 

Time seemed to stop for her as the smell of charred hair reached her nose. She stood motionless for several seconds before grabbing the end of it and holding it up to her eyes. Her pupils seemed to shrink as they fell upon the blanked ends. 

"My hair," she whispers. "My beautiful hair. YOU CHARRED MY HAIR!!!!"

"I will char more than that." Luxmon said as he charged the female Digimon.

The pale skinned girl growled and charged as well, but unfortunately it was broken as a large, green and black figure fell on top of her. Luxmon stopped mid-step and both he and Jennifer looked up in time to see TenchoTentomon floating down towards them.

"Sorry about being late, but I had my hands tied up," he said.

"Better late then never." Jennifer said from where she was slowly getting up.

"Yep. So then, how many are left?"

"Too many for you alone to handle." Luxmon told the fused Digimon.

"True but at least I could help."

"No!" Stingmon protested as he pulled himself to his feet. "You will not put me aside so easily."

"I guess not. I was really hoping I could though," TenchoTentomon said as he readied himself for another round.

Sam looked on at the impending renewed battle between TenchoTentomon and Stingmon then cast her gaze over to the navy clad female Digimon that was starting to stand up and then over to the two beast like Digimon approaching Rebecca, Wizardmon and Alex. She stared at them all with a sense of helplessness. She wanted to help out her friends, but she wasn't sure how. The only thing she had that could be of any real use was here bike. But...she couldn't damage that, it was too important to her. Not to mention there was probably no way she could get it fixed while in this world. But if she didn't her new found friends could be hurt. 

*What do I do?* she asked herself in a moment of indecision. *What's more important, the lives of human beings or the perfect bike?* She paused. *Damn that's a lot harder question than it should be.*

Taking another step back, Rebecca moved closer to Alex. Wizardmon moved with her, possibly understanding what she was doing. Moving to protect the most venerable member of the group, Alex. Alex for his part was not being too supportive of the move, seeing as how it blocked his view of the fights.

"Move aside already 'Becca. I want to see Stingmon go down. Why aren't you fighting like everyone else anyway?" Alex complained as Rebecca moved in front of him again.

"I'm trying to protect you, idiot. If you haven't noticed, you can't exactly fight back." Rebecca said somewhat bitingly.

"What's it with you dumb girls? I don't need to be protected. If you'd just leave me alone, so would the Digimon." Alex retorted in a huff.

"'Those who do not carry swords, can still die upon them.'" Rebecca quoted.

"You know that's not what I need to hear right now!" Jon shouted as he barely avoided another swipe from Karatenmon's blade.

"You have a sword." Rebecca blankly replied as she took another step towards Alex.

"Lot of good it's doing me," Jon muttered as his own attack was blocked.

He gritted his teeth as he tried to hold his opponent's blade down to gain some kind of advantage. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. This Digimon was strong and a lot more skilled than he was. Of course that wasn't surprising considering he had never actually fought with his sword before. What was surprising was that fact that he was able to hold his ground so well. It was like he had known and practiced these moves his whole life, like it was second nature to him. But how? Was it something he actually did have hidden within him or something the Digital World was feeding into him?

*Well, no time to worry about it now,* he thought as the bird Digimon broke the stand off. 

Jon jumped back as the blade swung forward and cut his shirt. He looked down in shock and was relieved to find it was only his shirt that was hit. Still that was too close for comfort.

As she watched the fights continue, Sam finally came to a decision. She slipped on her helmet and mounted her bike. 

"I'm sorry baby," she cooed as she patted the gas tank. 

She then started the bike up, but before she could make a move, Rinkmon jumped in front of her. 

"And where do you think **_you're_** going?" He cackled.

"Right through you," she replied, narrowing her eyes behind her helmet visor. 

She revved the bike up once and then drove full speed towards the spiky Digimon. His eyes widened in surprise and he barely jumped out of the way in time. He looked back at her in surprise as she spun the bike around to face him again.

"Are you crazy?!" He shouted.

"Been called that and worse," Sam replied, then revved her bike again. 

She charged him again, but this time he took a crouching position and waited until she was about a foot or so away before leaping forward and knocking her off the bike. She cried out in pain as her back was slammed into the ground. Rinkmon smiled maliciously down at her and raised his fist to shatter her helmet when an arrow of light stuck into his side. He shouted in agony and fell off of her, withering on the ground. Sam groaned and leaned on her elbows to see Angewomon giving a reassuring smile. 

"Thanks," she said. "Did you happen to save my bike as well?"

"Don't worry, it's just fine," Angewomon replied.

"Good."

The dinosaur Digimon, Stegomon, having been deprived of his primary target, turned his attention to the next digidestined he saw. Rebecca was still trying to protect Alex, much to his annoyance, and didn't realize that Stegomon had started to move in her direction. She was so caught up in what she was doing that she didn't even notice the slight tremors that accompanied the heavy Digimon's stride. Luckily, Wizardmon saw that Stegomon was about to charge Rebecca.

"Vision of Terror!" Wizardmon exclaimed. The attack caught Stegomon off guard, and soon the dinosaur Digimon was caught up within a nightmare of his own mind.

Peacockmon had been advancing on Jennifer and Luxmon when he was practically run-over by Stegomon. At the last second, before Stegomon collided with him, Peacockmon had been able to use his arm wings as a shield against the dinosaur's attack. It did the metal bird little good, Stegomon's charge had enough speed and power behind it to push the bird off the side of the cliff. The dinosaur Digimon stopped just short of going over the cliff himself. Stegomon then looked for another opponent.

"WHAT are you DOING you lumbering OAF?!" Peacockmon yelled at the dinosaur, and was promptly ignored by Stegomon. Flying down in front of the land-based Digimon, Peacockmon started yelling at him again. "You IDIOT! I was almost to those two that KuroiHimon was battling! I could have BEATEN them, IF you hadn't ATTACKED me!! WHAT do you THINK you're DOING??"

Stegomon ignored the bird Digimon and attacked again. This time however, Peacockmon was not prepared for the attack and was thrown across the battlefield into Karatenmon. Stegomon turned again and saw his new target...KuroiHimon. Charging, the dinosaur gave an anguished cry and tried to attack the human-type Digimon.

"What the-?!" the female Digimon cried as she saw her supposed teammate charging towards her. 

She took to the air and watched as he roared up towards her. 

"You turning traitor on us?!" she shouted at him. "Well that's just fine by me. Never liked you anyway."

She charged up one of her Plasma Blasts and was about to fire down at the enraged dinosaur when a hand reached out and grabbed her own. She slowly turned her head, ready to vaporize the fool who dared stop when she saw her commander Stingmon staring back at her. 

"Stop. It's not his fault," he told her.

"Oh? And then who's fault is it?!" she shouted back.

"His," the insectoid said, pointing down to Wizardmon.

Taking advantage of the lull in the fighting, Luxmon and Jennifer carefully made their way over to Rebecca, Alex and Wizardmon. The stopped for less than a second, once they were out of Stegomon's sight, so that Jennifer could retrieve her backpack. Jennifer noticed that even as they were making their way over to where Rebecca and Alex were, the others were starting to make their way over as well.

It took only a moment for the rest of the group to join them. Seeing at there was no need for him anymore, TenchoTentomon de-digivolved back into Ray and Tentomon. 

"I'd ask what you guys did, but I think right now we'd better get the hell out of dodge," Ray suggested

"I agree. If we leave now, we might not attract their attention as much." Rebecca commented.

"So where we do we go?" Jon asked.

"Uh...that way," Ray said, pointing towards his left.

"Works for me," the longhaired man shrugged.

Grabbing Alex, Luxmon followed behind the humans. It was only when he had taken a few massive steps that he realized that Wizardmon had stayed. Turning, he called back, "What are you doing wizard?" 

"Keeping them busy. Go ahead, I will be right there." Wizardmon replied, as he concentrated on keeping Stegomon locked inside the nightmare.

"Sorry little guy, but we need to get moving," Sam said as she grabbed his cape while she passed him on her bike.

The motion of being dragged by his cape, broke Wizardmon's concentration, thus releasing Stegomon from the nightmare that had kept the Dinosaur from attacking the humans. All Wizardmon could do was cry out no as he was forcefully dragged from the battlefield.

From high above the former battleground, Stingmon and KuroiHimon watched as the humans and their Digimon ran off. 

"They're getting away!" KuroiHimon shouted as she struggled against Stingmon's grip.

"Let them. Right now we need to tend to our wounded and regroup to plan our next strategy," the commander replied. 

"Our strategy should be blowing them up! Sitting back and talking about all this crap only gives them more of a chance to get away!"

"Not if they're heading we I think they are. And for this trap to work I need to see if Stegomon is alright."

"And if he's not?"

"Well improvise. For now though we find out if he's alright, what caused him to go crazy and most importantly," he paused to yank her close so that his face was inches away from hers, "how to work as a team." 

With that, he forcefully tossed her arm aside then floated down to see to his other teammates. KuroiHimon stayed in the air and glared down at him. How dare he treat her like that! She was his best soldier and he knew it. And if he didn't, then maybe it was time for a new leader. She smiled at that thought then floated down to join her "teammates", waiting to hear what great words of wisdom their "leader" would turn out.

Ray led the charge away from the group of Digimon that had attacked them. He really had no idea where he was going, but as long as it put distance between them and their attackers, it was the right way. Briefly he glanced behind himself and saw that the others were following dead on his tracks, with Angewomon and Tentomon flying while Luxmon carried Alex. He then looked over to his right and saw Sam riding her bike slightly ahead of him with Wizardmon now seated behind her. 

*Good. Everyone's here. Now I just need to figure out where we're going,* he thought.

"Hey can you hurry it up?! It's killing me to ride this slow!" Sam complained. 

"Well sorry excuse us if the rest of us forgot to bring our motorcycles along!" Ray snapped.

"This mechanical machine is quite...fast." Wizardmon spoke up so he could be heard over the engine of the bike.

"Trust me, this is nothing. When we find the time and space I'll show you what this baby can REALLY do," Sam gloated.

"I...look forward to that." Wizardmon said hesitantly, as his face was nearing a sickly shade of green.

Ray ignored the conversation as he continued running. This area had little in the way of cover and by the way the ground was squishing beneath his feet, it was easy to tell that it had rained recently. Idly, he thought it was weird to have rain in a digital world, but pushed it back to focus on the matter at hand. 

When he did, his eyes widened as he saw a steep hill right in front of them. He looked over at Sam and could just barely see her eyes from behind her visor looking back at him in horror. They both stopped at the same time, but unfortunately, her slipped on the slick grass and mud beneath them and tipped over. She slid a bit and came to a stop just before going over the mud drenched hill. 

Ray let out a startled gasp both at what had just happened and that fact that his effort to stop was no better than Sam's. He had tried to dig his heals into the ground, but it was no use. He slipped and collided with the girl, sending her, her bike, Wizardmon and himself sliding down the steep hill. 

The others soon followed suit, slipping on the wet ground and finding themselves taking a rather rough and tumble trip down the hill. Even Angewomon was literally dragged down with them as Alex had reached out and held onto her leg to keep himself from falling. The only one who had avoided the unpleasantness was Tentomon, who gently flew down and landed at the base of the hill in front of the pile of tangled human and Digimon limbs. 

"Is everyone alright?" he asked hesitantly.

Multiple groans replied Tentomon's question. Those were soon replaced by shouts as everyone tried to get untangled.

"Would someone get this big lug offa me!" Alex yelled from somewhere under Luxmon.

"AHH! Who just grabbed my leg?" Jennifer cried out.

"Ouch. Whoever is stepping on my hair, MOVE!" Rebecca yelled in a rare moment of anger.

"OW!! My eye!" Jon shouted. 

"I think I fell on my keys," Ray groaned. 

"My bike. Is my bike-AAAAHH!!! Who just grabbed my breasts?!" Sam roared.

"Sorry, it was an accident. I thought that was someone's knees." Alex apologized somewhat half-heartedly.

"Can someone please move whatever is poking my in the back?" Wizardmon's muffled voice came from the middle of the pile.

"This is...not going as planned," Angewomon groaned from the bottom of the pile, she had somehow found herself in. 

"I hate to rush you all, but we might have more problems," Tentomon said as he looked at an approaching group of rock Digimon.

"Alex, if that's your hand on my butt, I'll KILL you!" Jennifer yelled out.

"Trouble? Tentomon what is happening?" Rebecca asked as she gritted her teeth when someone stepped on her hair again.

"We appear to have landed in a Gotsumon village and the locals have spotted us. Normally, they wouldn't attack us, but with what's happen recently..." the bug Digimon explained.

"Do not worry, I shall defend you from them." Luxmon said as he tried to carefully untangle himself from the pile, only to trip over someone's legs.

"Well that's a nice thought there, but I think we need to get out of this mess before we think about fighting," Jon groaned. 

"I agree." Wizardmon said as he tried to move his hands to a point in the center of the pile, "If I could just....Gale Breeze!"

The top half of the pile was suddenly blown off the pile. Alex, Jennifer and Sam landed hard against the muddy slope they had fallen down. A series of groans and muttered curses came from the remaining pile as those still left, untangled themselves from each other. When that was done, everyone made their way to their feet to find their clothes, faces, and hair caked in mud, save for Sam who still had her helmet it on at the time of the unfortunately incident. The others, however, had not been so lucky and suffered some bruises on top of now being dirty. 

"Bug-guy, you didn't mention that the entire village was comin'. How the hell are we suppose ta fight all of those little rock jerks?" Alex complained from where he was trying to stand in the mud. 

"As best we can," Jon replied as he unsheathed his sword, which now felt ten pounds heavier. 

"Please, we mean you no harm," one of the Gotsumon spoke up. "We simply heard the commotion and wanted to see what was happening. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we didn't expect to find humans."

"So is that good or bad?" Sam asked, a little weary of these strange Digimon. 

"It's...interesting. But if you need help, we'll gladly assist you."

"Uh...hold that thought," Ray said as he turned towards the others and motioned for them to come close to him. "So what do you guys think?"

"We do need a place to rest and...clean up." Rebecca said as she looked at a section of her mud caked hair.

"Don't really have a choice, do we? If we try to continue we'll be sitting ducks."Jennifer commented, adding her vote for staying.

"As long as this place ain't a mile away, I say we stay." Alex commented, for once seeming serious, "Besides we'll all have to have a bath sometime, ladies."

"Keep dreaming prev. Actually that reminds me," Sam said as he reached over and smacked Alex hard across the face. "There, that's better. And yeah, I agree with Becky and Jen, we need to rest."

"Yeah. We're all too tired to fight. But that doesn't mean we can't be on our guard," Jon cautioned. 

"Well sounds like the humans agree, but how about you guys?" Ray asked, looking over at the Digimon. 

"Well the only real concern with the Gotsumon is their numbers. They're not known to be fighters," Tentomon informed them. 

"Indeed, and I believe we should be safe here. For a little while at least," Angewomon agreed.

"We have not been followed yet, but that does not mean that our attackers will not come." Luxmon said as he nodded in agreement with Angewomon's statement, "I think the wizard would agree, if he were awake."

At that statement, Rebecca spun to look for Wizardmon. She found her partner quickly, as Luxmon was carrying the sleeping Digimon. "Is he ok? He isn't hurt badly, is he?" Rebecca asked the bigger Digimon.

"He is fine. He simply sleeps from exhaustion." Luxmon reassured the concerned girl.

"That is good. I'll carry him, if you put him on my back. That way you will only have to worry about Alex." Rebecca told Luxmon.

"I guess it's unanimous then," Ray said before turning back to the crowd of Gotsumon. "Alright, we'll stay here for a bit. Uh...do you guys have a way for us to get cleaned up?"

"We have a creek at the other end of our village where you can wash yourselves and you clothes off," the lead Gotsumon replied. 

"Alright. Do you have any towels?"

"Towels? Well...we have some wash rags we use to polish ourselves with, maybe those can help you."

"Only one way to find out. Lead the way."

Rebecca sagged slightly as the weight of her Digimon partner settled on her back. Gritting her teeth she started after Ray and the Gotsumon, praying that the village wasn't far. If she had realized that Wizardmon weighed more than her cousins, who were the same height as the Digimon, she might not have offered to carry him. As it was, she was barely keeping with the others. Even Luxmon, who had to retrieve Alex, had already passed her.

"Just what I need, to get lost on the way to a temporary safe-haven." The burdened girl muttered to herself.

Jon heard her muttering and turned his head to ask her what she had said when he noticed how far behind she actually was. He looked towards the other for a moment before turning around and walking back towards her. 

"Here, let me help," he offered.

"I can do this." Rebecca said stubbornly, "He is my Digimon partner. We need to be able to take care of each other."

"True, but it won't do him or you any favors if you break your back carrying him."

Rebecca stubbornly took a few more steps before she sagged to her knees from the combination of Wizardmon's weight and her own pain and exhaustion. 

"I should be able to do this, why can't I?" The girl asked herself in a whisper.

"Because no one can carry the weight of the world by themselves. Or in this case a Digimon," Jon said with a shrug as he stood above her.

"Does you offer for help still stand?" Rebecca asked as she looked up at Jon.

"Of course. We're a team after all, we're suppose to help one another out," he replied as he held out a hand to help her up.

"I think I might take you up on that offer." Rebecca said ask she took Jon's hand and carefully pulled herself back up without dropping Wizardmon.

"Well now that that's settle, which end do you want to carry?"

"I'll take his feet...his hat would be a distraction." Rebecca told Jon.

Jon raised an eyebrow at that statement and was about to make a comment, but shook his head when he thought better of it. He carefully grabbed the unconscious Digimon's head and then turned around so that he would be walking backwards. 

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all," he muttered as he strained his neck to see behind him.

"If you have a better idea, I'm open to suggestions."

"Right now I just want to get to this village so I can rest."

"Frankly, I want to get clean before I rest. I cannot stand leaving my hair in such a state. It would be as hard as cement in no time at all."

Jon chuckled. "Yeah, I know how that can be."

Rebecca grinned slightly, then set her face behind her emotionless mask once more. "I hope that Jennifer has some shampoo. There is no way all this mud will come out with just water."

"As far as you know. Remember the physics of this world could be a lot different than ours."

"The gravity is the same. Time passes the same. So I do not see how the rest of physics will not be the same."

Jon glance down at the sword tucked away in his belt and remembered how he had been able to stand his ground against Karatenmon so well. 

"Maybe," he said

"I think....we have lost the others." Rebecca said as she looked ahead of them and saw no one, and no sign of a village.

"Wonderful. Well let's just keep walking this way, that's the last place I saw them heading so hopefully we'll find this place eventually."

"Hopefully." Rebecca said as she continued to walk towards where the others had be last seen.

They continued their trek for several more minutes, stopping only to adjust the weight from the not-so-little Digimon. Eventually, Rebecca had spotted the outline of the village and they picked up their pace slightly. When they reached it they found the others standing in the middle of a crowd of Gotsumon, deep in some kind of conversation. It was Jennifer who first noticed them approaching.

"Rebecca! Jon! Where have you been? We thought those other Digimon might have gotten you." Jennifer called out as she jogged over to where the two humans and sleeping Digimon were.

"Wizardmon was....heavier than he looks." Rebecca replied simply.

"A lot heavier," Jon added in a groan. "Is there anywhere we can set him down?"

"Bring him over here. You can let him rest over here." A Gotsumon told the two as it pointed towards something that looked like a combination of a park bench and a daybed.

They did as they were instructed and carefully laid Wizardmon down on the bench. When they made sure he was as comfortable as he could be and that he wouldn't fall off they let go and stood up. As he did so, Jon let out a loud groan and held his back. 

"Damn. That'll be the last time I do something like that," he grunted.

"Thank-you." Rebecca said quietly, before she turned and walked over to where Jennifer and Sam were talking.

"So what's going on?" Jon asked, as he too walked up to the group. 

"Well, the Gotsumon said they're willing to let us use their creek clean up whatever we need to and they'll let us sleep here tonight," Ray explained. 

"Sounds good." 

"Of course there is a problem," Sam spoke up.

"And that would be?" Rebecca asked.

"Since the Gotsumon are so much smaller than we are *this* is what they have for towels," she replied, holding a small rag that when tied properly wouldn't even reach around her waist.

Rebecca's eyes widened a bit, then turning to the males of the group, and surprising everyone, "Women have first chance at cleaning up. And you ...'men', if you are caught trying to take-a-peak.....we'll let Sam deal with you."

"And trust me, it'll be ten times worse than anything those guys we just fought would do to you," she threatened, giving them all an evil glare. 

"Thought never crossed my mind," Ray said.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Jon added. 

"And not to be rude, but I don't find human woman to be particularly attractive," Tentomon spoke up.

"Shut-up Bug-boy! And like I'd want to look at you flat-chested bunch of nags." Alex sneered from a nearby bench.

"Can I PLEASE kill him!" Sam pleaded, trembling with rage.

"No. We might need him yet. He IS a part of this group, whether we like it or not." Jennifer said as she put herself between Alex and Sam.

"One of you finally figured it out. Took you long enough." Alex snorted.

"But we CAN teach him some manners." Jennifer said before she slapped Alex's face, then turned and stormed off towards the creek, grabbing her bag as she went.

"And don't worry, I'll stand guard so that none of them will be tempted to peek," Angewomon said as she followed behind Jennifer.

"Sounds good. I need to get this junk out of my hair. Come on Sam, let's leave the boys to talk." Rebecca said as she waited behind Sam, until the other girl moved towards the creek and away from her possible murder victim.

As the boys watched them leave a single thought began to run through their minds and they looked at each other in a slightly nervous manner. 

"Alright I'll be the first to say it, there's no way in hell I'm bathing near any of you," Jon said, looking back and forth between the male humans and Digimon. 

"Same here," Ray agreed.

"Oh sure, like I was planning on that, ya sword swinging freak." Alex's sarcastism was clearly heard.

"You know, maybe we should let Sam kill him," Jon retorted. 

"Let's just leave that alone for right now," Ray said as he turned towards one of the Gotsumon. "So you guys got anything else for us?"

"Well the creek is large enough so that you should be able to bath far enough away from one another," one of them explained. 

"Guess it'll have to do. Alright, grab a couple towels and pick your spot."

The remaining members of the group did as their leader instructed and walked away from one another to steak out their place in the creek. After they were out of side, the Gotsumons' eyes all narrowed and they looked at each other. 

"We'll keep them here, you go find the master," the lead one had instructed the one next to him. 

The Gotsumon in question nodded and then ran off, leaving his brethren to plan their actions against the humans and the traitor Digimon with them.

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Please if you read our story, please review it.

Comments, Criticisms, anything is welcome. Even Flames, we always need a good laugh.

Until next time.


	4. Strength of the Amazon

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Disclaimer: We do not own Digimon, nor any of the recognizable characters of the show. We do own the original characters that we have created and ask that anyone who wished to use those characters ask us first.

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Authors Notes:

Blackbird: We'd both like to have a few more reviews. So we as that if you read our fic that you please review.

Ayanna Wildfire: I'm alive. Editing this latest chapter took me a little longer than expected, but it's done and up for your enjoyment. Hopefully the next chapter won't take too long to write...altho with my work schedule, it doesn't look like it.

Anyway, we'll see you next time.

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Enjoy the new chapter!

*____* = Thoughts

"____" = Speech

~~~~~ = Transition or Break

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Sam muttered under her breath as she pushed her bike along and followed the other girls to their selected spot in the creek. Her ramblings were a mixture of Alex's remarks and how she would make him pay for them and complaining about the damage done to her bike, which thankfully was minimum. It was mostly just mud and a few minor dings, but that was still enough to almost give her a heart attack. After years of keeping it top condition, it was damaged in only three days in this weird false world. Finally, she just sighed and hung her head. 

"I am in total hell," she groaned.

"Don't get in the water then. It's frozen hell." Jennifer said from where she was easing into the water.

"Of course," Sam replied as she brought the kickstand down on her bike. "So how are we going to do this? Wash our clothes first and then bath or the other way around?"

"I say both at once...it will make it go somewhat quicker." Rebecca said as she put her tarot cards down near Sam's bike, then took a running jump off the side of the creek and landed in the water, clothes and all.

Sam thought about the dark haired girl's statement for a second, then took off her leather gloves and boots, then unzipped and removed her riding suit. She held it out in front of her to examine it and then herself. 

"You know...my suit's really the only thing that's ruined since I had it and my helmet on," she mused. "I guess I don't really NEED to bath, but then again who knows when we might get the chance to again."

"Yeah, I know I had shampoo somewhere in my bag." Jennifer said as she got up from the shore and opened her bag looking for the aforementioned item.

"Sounds good. I need it for the amount of mud in my hair." Rebecca said as she swam nearer to the shore and shed her skirt and blouse, placing them carefully on the shoreline.

Sam nodded her decision then set her suit down on her bike with the intention to clean it later. She looked down at the remaining clothes she had on. 

"Well no reason to get these wet," she said to herself. 

She removed her tank top and shorts and was about to take off the last of her clothing when she suddenly looked up at the other girls. 

"Uh...you guys think you could at least close your eyes till I get in the water?" She asked them.

"I'm not even looking at you Sam." Jennifer said as she continued rummaging through her bag.

Rebecca simply closed her eyes and waited for Sam to get in the water.

Hoping Jennifer would be still be occupied with her bag, Sam shed her underwear and carefully hung it and her clean clothes from one of the few trees near the creek bed, then covered herself as well as she could and walked towards the water. She tentively placed one of her toes in water then pulled it back as a shiver ran up her spine. She sucked in a deep breath and forced herself into the freezing water. When she was completely submerged she let out a loud screech and wrapped her arms around herself. 

"I knew it was cold, but I didn't think it would sub zero temperatures!" She said through chattering teeth.

"You get used to it after a bit." Rebecca said as she took her underwear off, grimacing at the mud stains.

"Perhaps I can help," Angewomon said as she walked up to them. 

She knelt down and placed two fingers in the water. It glowed for a moment and the water began to warm up. She waited until a light steam came off of the water before removing her hand. 

"Better?" She smiled. 

Sam let to a contented sigh. "Oooh yeah."

Rebecca sighed as the water warmed up, then ducked her head under the water in hopes of loosening some more of the mud in her hair. When she surfaced, she saw Jennifer walking over to the edge of the creek, a bottle in her hand. Jennifer quickly shed her clothes, wrinkling her face in disgust as she looked down at her mud soaked bra. Deciding to at least try to rinse it off, Jennifer jumped in.

"Oh this is MUCH better." Jennifer said as she surfaced.

"I know," Sam sighed again then looked up at the fourth member of their group. "So Angewomon, you coming in or what? You need it the most out of all of us."

The angelic Digimon took the time to finally examine herself after the girl's statement and found that she was indeed almost completely covered in mud. It wasn't all that surprising since she had been able to feel it over her while they're in the Gotsumon village, but she hadn't expected this amount. Still she seemed unphased as she looked down at the one who had asked her to join in. 

"Thank you for the concern Sam, but I can use my powers to clean myself up," she informed the blonde. 

Sam's face took on a look of indignity as she stared at the winged woman. 

"And you couldn't have cleaned the rest of us off as well?" She asked in a deadpan voice. 

"Sorry, but no. My powers have become limited since I opened the gate to your world and joined on this journey. I can clean myself, but not the rest of you. Even then it will drain me slightly, but..." she paused and gave them all a weak smile. "I did promise to keep watch after all."

"Yeah, you don't want Alex coming to take a peek, do you Sam?" Jennifer commented as she rubbed some shampoo in her hair before passing the bottle to Rebecca.

"Of course not, that little creep. Calling me 'flat chested'. He more than anyone should know that's not true, the prev," Sam ranted, but then shook her head to clear those thoughts. "No, I don't want him to look on us, but I don't think it's fair for Angewomon to weaken herself for our sake either. I mean she already warmed up the water for us so she probably shouldn't do anything else for a bit. And besides, I think she deserves to enjoy this since she's responsible for it anyway." She then looked up at the Digimon standing above them. "So what do you say, in or out?"

"Well...I don't know. What do you two say?" Angewomon asked, looking over at Jennifer and Rebecca.

"The more the merrier." Jennifer replied with a smile.

"It is your choice. This is your world after all." Rebecca commented.

"I believe I shall join you. As Sam said, I could use some relaxation time. But I'll be sure to keep an ear out should Alex try to peek."

"Sounds good to me," Sam said. 

Angewomon smiled and then went about removing her own outfit, save for her mask, and then slowly lowered herself into the now warmed water. She let out a sigh of her down and leaned against the creek bed. 

"Very nice indeed. At the risk of getting an inflated ego, I think I did a wonderful job," she retorted.

"I'll say." Jennifer said as she rinsed the suds out of her hair.

"I agree. This is much nicer to bath in." Rebecca said as she lathered up her hair as best she could.

"Yep. Could stay here all day," Sam replied. 

"Or at least until the power of my spell wears off," Angewomon pointed out. 

"Right. Actually that brings up a good point, anyone figure out how we're going to dry off?"

"I have my beach towel...but that won't dry all of us off." Jennifer said.

"And we still need to clean out clothes. So we cannot just put them back on and let them air dry." Rebecca said as she went to rinse her hair.

"Could hang them from the trees, but then there's the question of what to do while they dry. As I showed you, those towels aren't really going to cut it," Sam sighed. "This is all just one big mess."

"And if any of the boys show up, it'll be an even bigger mess. Do you have any suggestions Angewomon?" Jennifer asked.

The angel leaned her head back as she thought over the question. 

"Unfortunately no," she said. "I'm sorry, but I never thought this time or situation would occur. I suppose the best we can do is hope they'll be honorable and keep to their words."

Rebecca looked at the angel and in a deadpan voice said, "You have not been around many men, have you?"

"Well...uh...most of the original warriors were male, but then I wasn't allow much contact with them so...no, not really."

"So you do not realize that most men do not keep their word." Rebecca noted, before she ducked under the water again to try and get the last bits of mud out of her hair.

"No kidding," Sam added. "Though I really think we just have to worry about Alex. Ray and Jon seem like nice enough guys. Still wouldn't put it passed them, but I would be surprised."

"Yeah, Alex is the biggest perv I've met." Jennifer commented.

"Then you do not get out much." Rebecca told Jennifer.

"Oh? And just how many pervs have you met Becky?" Sam inquired.

"You meet enough of them, when you work part-time in a bar to get through school." Rebecca answered calmly.

Sam quirked an eyebrow at that. "You work at a bar? How did that happen?"

"I needed money for school and it is close to where I go to school. As I said, it's only part-time. I work the afternoons...and there are more then enough drunks then willing to 'take the pretty girl home.'"

"Yeah I can see how that can give you a jaded view on guys. Still can't be as bad as the job I have."

"And what do you do?" Rebecca asked the girl.

"You know those people that call you while you're trying to have a nice, relaxing dinner asking you to give money to some kind of charity?"

Rebecca looked over at Sam, "I pity you."

"You're a telemarketer?! Argh, how could you?"

"Cause they're the only place that'll hire you without some kind of degree or something!" Sam shouted throwing her arms in the air and inadverantly splashing the other girls.

"Like you need a degree to serve drinks." Rebecca said as she blinked the water out of her eyes.

"Least you're still in college."

"You are younger than I am. Why are you not in college?" Rebecca asked, slightly curious as to how Sam was out of college when she was two years younger than herself.

"Well," she started, running her hands through her hair, leaving damp trails behind them. "I started out like every other freshmen, knowing it was going to be hard yet not knowing just *how* hard it was. I really did try, but my grade kept slipping and the stress was pilling up and eventually...I just couldn't handle it anymore. So I dropped out, got that job and just tried to get by. Actually, that's about when I really started getting into fixing up my bike to help me keep my mind occupied and relieve some of the stress."

"I do the same with my tarot cards. However, I am still struggling through school." Rebecca told Sam.

"And I just graduated. I have a job lined up....at least I used to." Jennifer commented.

"What happened to you?" Sam asked, hoping to change the subject.

"I got sucked into my computer." Jennifer said deadpanned, "My job interview is suppose to be tomorrow....I don't' think I'll make it back in time for it."

"I apologize," Angewomon said, hanging her head. "I know I disrupted your lives, but I assure you that if I could have found another way I would have."

"I know Angewomon. I just can't help but feel sad, my dad must be worried sick about me. I've never passed up a camping trip with him. And all of a sudden, I don't show up for the last one I'll have for a while. He must think I've been kidnapped or killed."

"Not even sure my parents would notice," Sam said softly.

"All parents notice when their child is missing. It is how they react to it that determines what kind of parent they are." Rebecca said quietly to Sam.

"Yeah."

An uncomfortable silence encompassed the girls as they all imagined how their individual parents were reacting to their absences. It was broken only when Sam swiped her arm across the water's surfacing, causing a small splash. 

"Hey come on, we can feel sorry for ourselves later. We shouldn't let a nice, warm bath like this go to waste on a bunch of angst," she said, trying to cheer her companions up.

"But warm baths are perfect for angst. They melt it right off you." Jennifer said as she returned Sam's splash.

The blonde let out a startled shriek as the water hit her. 

"Especially when someone splashes you. Kinda like this!" She cried, sending another splash Jennifer's way.

"Ack! Oh you think you're so smart do you?" Jennifer laughingly replied as she started sending several splashes at Sam.

Not one to ever back down from a challenge, Sam returned "fire" as it were and sent several waves towards the brown haired girl. Unfortunately, a few of them went wild and splashed Rebecca as well. Rebecca stood her "ground" and raised an eyebrow at the two. She then skimmed the water with her right hand, causing a wave to splash both girls and Angewomon.

"Oh so emotionless girl is getting on this too, eh? Well take this!" 

Sam jumped up slightly and brought both her arms down roughly into the water, completely dowsing the other girl.

Looking more like a drowned rat, Rebecca started sending splashes back, when all of a sudden a wave appeared out of nowhere and drenched Sam and Jennifer.

"Oh so that's how you want to play, eh? Well here, let me help you get the rest of the mud out of your hair!" Sam shouted in mock anger just before jumping up, grabbing Rebecca's head and dunking it under the water.

Rebecca, not knowing how the wave had come, but knowing that somehow she had made it, was caught off guard as Sam dunked her under the water and so she breathed in a lot of water before she made it back to the surface. Coughing out as much water as she could, Rebecca simply tried to breathe properly again.

"Oh hey, you alright? I didn't mean to drown you there, I was just playing around," Sam apologized, swimming over to check on her.

Coughing a couple more times before she felt she could answer, Rebecca told Sam that she would be ok. Rebecca then slowly made her way closer to the bank so she could lean on it and think about how she had made that wave.

Seeing that she was distressed and confused, Angewomon moved over to where Rebecca had settled to offer whatever advice she could. 

"You're confused about that wave, aren't you?" She approached.

"Yes. How did I do that? I have never been able to do that before. I shouldn't be able to do that." Rebecca confided.

"Because before you were in your own world. Remember, while this world may be a reflection of your, it also have it's own rules. And each of you were chosen because you all have a hidden talent that can be amplified by this world."

"So....magic is real here. Wait...you said that it's a hidden talent...so that means I could do magic at home?" Rebecca asked.

"Most likely no. Or at least, nothing more than what you do with your Tarot cards. You have magical abilities here because when you entered the Digital World, it changed your genetic structure a bit that made you a conduit for magic. As long as you're here, you can perform those acts. When back in your own world...well I won't make any promises."

"But how did I do that? I did not want a wave like that...I just wanted a bigger splash...and then that wave hit....I can not control this." Rebecca said sadly as the full extent of possibilities dawned on her.

Angewomon placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

"You will learn to control them. Do you think it was a coincidence that you ended up with Wizardmon as your partner?"

"This has all happened so fast, I have not been able to really think about it." Rebecca replied quietly.

"I know. But I fear that we must hurry as our enemy is already moving against us with much stronger warriors."

"But if we rush, we could easily fall into a trap." Rebecca countered.

"That is true. But we must do what we can. And I have faith in you and the others."

"At least someone does." Rebecca commented before she reached for her clothes in hopes of cleaning some of the mud off them.

"Indeed. And I'm sure the others do as well. You just need to have faith in yourself," Angewomon consoled, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Faith is hard to come by when nothing you do succeeds."

"As I said, you shall learn to control your powers. And opening up to the others couldn't hurt either."

"Opening up is what hurt me in the first place. I do not want to have what happen then, happen again." The girl told the Digimon abruptly.

"What happened?" Angewomon asked, genually concerned.

Rebecca froze in her movements, turned to Angewomon and asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity. Concern. If it helps, you can think of it as a confessional. I am an angel after all."

Rebecca paused to think for a moment, then said, "I was used by the man I thought I loved. Let's just leave it at that."

"I see," the winged Digimon bowed her head. "I'm truly sorry. Having your heartbroken is never easy."

"No, it isn't. I ask that you not tell the others. It is something personal that I do not usually share with strangers."

"Of course," Angewomon nodded.

"Thank you." Rebecca said sincerely before trying to get the mud stains out of her blouse.

With the conversation ended, Angewomon moved back to her own clothing and held it up as best she could while in the water. Frowning at the amount of mud caked on it, she wondering if perhaps it would be easier for her just use her powers to clean it. But then again that could leave her weaken in an attack and neither she nor her human charges could afford that. She sighed and was about to start cleaning it when she heard twig snap. She turned her head towards the source while letting out a small gasp.

Being closest to Angewomon, Jennifer heard the angel's gasp, turning to ask what was wrong, Jennifer screamed and ducked down until the water touched her chin.

"What?! What is it?!" Sam shouted, swimming over to their position.

"Get down!" Jennifer yelled at Sam, as she tried to stay covered by the water, "There's a perv up there."

"Oh really?" Sam asked, her voice taking on a dangerous edge. 

She then picked up a large rock from the end of the creek. 

"Then maybe he can get a look at this!" she cried out as she launched the rock towards the area Jennifer had indicated.

"Ow." A familiar voice rang out. 

"Wizardmon?" Rebecca asked herself quietly.

"Wizardmon?" Sam asked incredibly. "You mean your Digimon is the one that was spying on us? Damn, and here I was hoping I finally nailed that jerk Alex."

"Perhaps you should go see to him. Or at least find out why he's here," Angewomon said, suddenly sinking down in the water herself. 

"I don't exactly have wearable clothes Angewomon." Rebecca replied as she sank down into the water, "But I'll see if I can find out why he's here."

Rebecca swam a short distance away, out of the warm water and back into the freezing cold water. Once she thought she was far enough away from the others, she called out to her Digimon partner.

"Oh! There you are Rebecca...."Wizardmon said as he found where Rebecca was swimming in the water, then realizing that she was naked, started to blush and turned around.

"Why were you looking for me Wizardmon? Didn't the Gotsumon tell you that we were all getting cleaned up?" Rebecca asked.

"No...they didn't. They simply told me that you were in this direction." Wizardmon told his human partner.

"The girls are bathing here, and we do not want a male around, human or Digimon." Rebecca told him.

"That is understandable. But...why did you not just use your magic? You could have cleaned everyone up." 

Rebecca blinked for a moment, then replied, "I can not control my magic yet. So I dare not try."

"Prehaps..you would allow me to clean your clothing at least. So you have clean clothes to wear. And dry ones." Wizardmon offered.

"Let me ask the others...are you sure you have the energy to do that though?"

"It should not be too draining." Wizardmon assured her.

"Alright." Rebecca said before she quickly swam back to the warmer water.

"So what's the little creepy want?" Sam asked, irriation still ringing in her voice.

"He did not know we were bathing. The Gotsumon only told him that we were in this direction. And he is offering to clean and dry our clothes for us." Rebecca explained.

"Well...that would solve one our problems. You think he can clean leather without shrinking it? That suits form fitting enough as it is."

"I am not sure. However he cleans the cloths must involve magic, because he asked why I had not simply cleaned everyone with my magic...."Rebecca said.

"You could do that?"

"Not yet," Angewomon interjected. "But I believe she could in time."

"OK so she can't yet. You, the guardian of this world, couldn't. What's wrong with this picture?"

Angewomon seemed taken aback by this and the others could just barely see a blush of embarrassment appear behind her mask. 

"Well...as I said I gave up a lot of my power when I appeared before you. I could do it if I was at my full strength but for now I'm saving that for when we have to fight."

"Which is more important. So, are we going to take Wizardmon's offer?" Rebecca asked.

"Sure, why not?" Sam shrugged. 

"I don't see the harm in it. And it will help us out," Angewomon agreed.

"Saves me from trying to clean them." Jennifer added.

"Alright. I will go tell him." Rebecca said as she started to swim back to where she had left Wizardmon.

Sam watched as Rebecca talked with Wizardmon and wrapped her arms around her chest as she sank even deeper into the water. 

"I still don't trust him," she muttered.

"Me either...but we do need clean clothes." Jennifer commented.

"I know. But I swear if we tries to take a peek, I WILL kill him."

"I'll help." Jennifer agreed.

"Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does try not to kill him. Just hurt him very badly," Angewomon added.

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Alex was scowling as Luxmon set him down near the creek. His bruised and purple knees still hurt too much to walk long distances and so the human had to rely on Luxmon to get around. Grimacing as he straightened out his legs, Alex ignored Luxmon when the Digimon told him that he would return once he had gotten clean. As Luxmon walked away to find another spot to bathe, Alex began to unbutton his mud-caked shirt.

"Stupid world." The boy said as he flung his shirt and vest aside and began to carefully try and work his jeans off. Alex could do nothing more than grit his teeth as he found out that his knees had swollen up during the night. His jeans were now stuck on his knees and to remove them would cause even more pain.

"Can any fucking thing else go wrong?" Alex thought to himself, as he pulled the top part of his jeans back up.

Walking slowly and painfully over to the creek, Alex thought about little else but getting to the creek. He forgot about how he was going to get into the water. It was when he reached the creek bank that he realized the problem. Jumping in was out of the question. Trying to walk off the bank was out as well because of the rough edge on the bank. Sitting and then sliding in looked to be the best option, but sitting down was going to be difficult. His knees were already protesting from the short walk he has made to the creek's edge. Trying to sit would probably have him screaming, and that would bring the others running. That, he decided, was NOT what he needed. 

Wondering how he was going to get into the water, Alex looked around and noticed a tree near the water. He made his way over to the tree and slumped against it. His knees were now burning with pain and he still had to find a way to get into the water. Slowly, Alex began to lower himself to the ground, using the tree for support. Once he was finally on the ground, Alex was heaving for air. He tried to ignore the pain that was shooting through his entire legs now, radiating from his knees. Once he was able to manage breathing properly again, Alex swung his legs around so that they were over the water. He then pushed himself off the bank and into the freezing water.

As his head broke the surface of the water, he screamed out at the cold, both as it lowered his body's temperature and how it was driving what felt like knifes into his knees. His thoughts cycled through how cold the water was, how painful his knees were, how stupid the Digital World was, and how he was truly of no use to the group. 

Alex hurried to clean his body as best he could so that he could get out of the freezing water. Once he was satisfied with the results that he had gotten, he realized that there was no way for him to get out of the water. He couldn't pull himself up, the bank was just too high for him to manage that. And he couldn't use his legs to help, he was effectively stuck in the freezing water until Luxmon returned.

"Fuck!"

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Jon stood at the edge his selected portion of the creek. He glanced from side to side to see if he could find anyone that may be watching him. He found it highly unlikely that the girls would try anything like that, but he wasn't sure about the Gotsumon. And there could also be some other creature out there waiting to jump him. 

When he was convinced he was alone, he slipped off his trench coat and held it up to inspected it, frowning at the mud on it. 

"At least it's not torn anywhere," he said to himself. 

He then pulled his sword sheath out of his belt and laid it down next to here his coat now lay. Casting one more glance around, he hurriedly took off the rest of his clothes and then stepped into the water. A shiver when up his spine and he let out a small whimper at how cold it was. 

"Of course the water has to be freezing," he muttered. 

Ignoring the cold as best he could, he pulled the tie out of his hair and tossed on top of his pile of cloths. When he tried to pull his hair forward, he finally released how much mud was mixed into it and sighed. 

"Maybe I should have asked Jennifer if I could burrow any shampoo she might have had," he mused. "Oh well, nothing I can do about it now."

He took a deep breath before he sunk down into the water. He whipped his head around to try to loosen some of the mud, then tried to pull the rest of it out. When his air supply ran low, he surfaced rapidly and let out a large gasp. 

When his breathing returned to normal he began to wash some of the mud off his body, still shivering from the cold. He blinked his eyes to get the water out of them and then moved back over to the shore to where his clothes laid. Instead of pulling his clothes in with him to begin washing them, he picked up his sword and unsheathed. He brought the bladed down to his eye level, but was still careful not to let it touch the water, and stared at it in deep thought. 

How had he been able to hold off the Digimon as well as he could? It was obvious he was incredibly skilled with his own swords, so how could a mere human with no real sword fighting experience keep him at bay? During the entire fight Jon could feel something deep inside his mind, something that was instructing him on how to block and parry his opponent's motions. He could still feel it now, though it wasn't nearly as strong, but the feeling was still there. The...presence was still there. He assumed it was something from the Digital World, a set of mental instructions or something like that. The real question wasn't what it is was or how he got it though, it was what was it going to do to him? And would he like the end result?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Staring down at the water, Luxmon wondered what fate had in store for him. He hadn't thought that he would be fighting to save the entire Digital World. He had merely taken to battling Senbomon's forces, in hopes of freeing what remained of his once beautiful village. The day he had been captured had been one that filled him with sorrow. He had been defending a small village, the inhabitants had given him a place to stay the night before he moved on to get more information about the group of Goblimon that had been seen gathering Digimon to work as Senbomon's slaves.

The Goblimon had attacked in the early hours of the morning. He had barely woken up before the Goblimon had attacked and subdued him. It was all rather embarrassing, being defeated by such a weak enemy, and then to be chained up similar to a piece of meat. The shame he felt then was the final straw that had broken his pride. He passed the next day wallowing in his shame, it was only the piercing scream that Jennifer had let loose at his appearance that managed to wake him from his misery.

Luxmon had undressed as he thought and quickly stepped into the water. Being more used to the cold water, he barely shivered as he began to wash the mud from his body. It didn't take him long to clean himself, his hair taking the most time as the mud in it didn't want to be worked loose. When he was satisfied with how clean he was, the Digimon turned to his clothes. Thanking all he believed in that his clothes were easily cleaned, Luxmon exited the creek and hung his clothes to dry on a nearby tree. Reaching for his helmet, the Digimon sat at the creek's end and scooped up water to wash the mud off it.

As he worked, his thoughts returned to his human partner. She was excitable to say the least, but the same time she was strong. Being able to carry that backpack proved to him that Jennifer was strong, she could easily become a great warrior with a small amount of training. Her soul was light, even having only known her for a day, he could see that. She trusted the other humans, even Alex to some degree, even thought they had only just met each other two days ago. The only Digimon he had ever met that could trust as implicitly as Jennifer had, all had light souls. Souls that just seemed to KNOW whom they could and could not trust. There had been one such Digimon in his village. Every mon would ask of her wisdom and every mon would trust in her answer. She has been the first to be destroyed when the village had been attacked.

He stopped washing his helmet, as a tear leaked out of his eye. That Digimon had been a bright spot in his life. Loosing her had driven him mad. His temper had flared and he had attacked the invading Digimon, helping to drive them back. It had been after the battle, after his physical wounds had healed that he learned of the village's near destruction. Truly all that had been left were a few huts, the rest had been either burned or damaged extensively from the battle. It had been while he was walking through the devastated village that he decided to fight Senbomon's forces. That night he has slipped away and never looked back. He vowed to himself to free those Digimon that Senbomon had enslaved.

"Perhaps it is possible now. My dear friend, your destruction WILL be avenged."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ray let out a shivering sigh as he splashed another bit of water of his face. He had gotten use to the cold temperature rather quickly, but moving around still caused him to shake a bit. When the effects passed and his body returned to a more reasonable degree, he leaned against the bank of the creek and closed his eyes. 

His mind began to replay the events of the day, from when he was chosen to be the group's leader to the attack by that team of Digimon to just about right now. The thing that stuck out in his mind was how everyone had elected him leader. Why him? Just because he was the first find and then merge with his partner? Did that really qualify him to lead? Apparently it did to the others, but he still had his doubts. He'd never led anything in his life, expect for a few lab groups in high school and that was mostly because he did all the work. So based one that VERY little experience he was suppose to lead a group of people he just met in a fight for their lives to save some world he hardly knew anything about. 

"Yeah, right," he muttered.

"Just how am I suppose to get everyone to follow me? Well...I guess they already have so far, except for Alex, but he doesn't really like to follow any one from what I can tell. But what about what just happened in that fight? I didn't really 'lead us to victory' in that one and I'm not sure I could do it in a similar situation." He stopped and let out another sighed. "I just don't know what to do. If I mess up I have a good chance of getting everyone killed." He stopped when it finally sank in as to what he was doing. "Of course, sitting here talking to myself isn't really helping at all."

He finally opened his eyes and lifted his head off the bank. He'd have to think about all this later when he wasn't so out in the open and...naked. In a way it reminded him of when he was home and he would do a great amount of thinking while taking a bath there. Of course there were some differences. For one, the water wasn't freezing and there wasn't a risk of someone, or here something, peeking on him. And he didn't have to worry about getting killed by some kind of weird creature either. Hopefully, neither of those events would happen. 

He pulled himself off the bank and absentmindly stood up in a stretch. He began to turn around to get his clothes when the sound of a snapping twig caught his ear. He let out a surprised gasp as he covered himself and sank back into the water. He spun around to see who could be sneaking up on him and his eye widened when he saw Sam walking up to him wearing the tank top and shorts usually concealed by her motorcycle suit. She gave him a weak smile as she continued to approach. 

"Hey Ray, I was wondering if-"

"I'm naked here!" he shouted, cutting her off. "Geez, with all the fuss you raised about peeking I figured you'd be the last one to do it."

"I wasn't peeking!" she shouted back, stomping her left foot. "I was simply coming over here to see if I could borrow your tools to fix up my bike."

"While I was bathing?!"

"Well how I was suppose to know you weren't finished?!"

"Because...I mean...well...uh...fine!" he relented, sinking deeper into the water in defeat.

Sam smirked at her victory when walked over to where the boy's clothes laid and picked up his vest and tool belt. 

"I haven't washed them yet," Ray muttered from his place in the creek. 

"Then I'll just have to do that for you," she concluded. 

"Just don't get them rusty."

"Don't worry I won't. And thanks."

"Uh...welcome."

He watched her turn and leave but before she did, he could have sworn he saw her eyes dart up and down and a small smirk cross her face. He blinked at her disappearing form, trying to understand what that look meant. She didn't? She wouldn't? Would she? And if she did then....

"Hey remember this water's cold!" he cried out towards her. 

"Whatever!" came the reply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In another part of the Gotsumon village, Tentomon wandered around a bit aimlessly while he waited for the others to finish cleaning up. Since he had flown down the hillside, he didn't need to bath and with the others occupied, it really left him with nothing to do. He supposed he should get to know the Gotsumon better since they did help them and were allowing them to stay in their village, but...there was something about this situation that made him uneasy. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, he was just wasn't comfortable around large groups. Never was before and that was the main factor that lead him to becoming a drifter. Of course he had been able to use that as an excuse to go exploring the different regions of the Digital World, which he found to be quite rewarding and fulfilling.

Unfortunately, do to Serpentmon's presence it was quickly becoming a very dangerous place to live, especially for someone who traveled around. There were many times when he had just barely avoided being captured and he faced more evil Digimon than he cared to admit. 

Maybe that was why he had been chosen to save the world. Of course, being partnered with a human was strange enough in and of itself, but then having a large group of humans and soon enough Digimon, made his old fears began to creep up again. How was he suppose to work with a team when he wasn't fond of groups to begin with? And not only that, he was the partner to the leader of the team! So by default he would be expected to lead the Digimon half of the team. Which meant he'd have to order Luxmon around and the idea of trying to do that didn't sit well with him at all. He just hoped the large Digimon wouldn't step on him when that time came. 

His thoughts here broken when he heard a set of voices coming out of one of the huts. Curious, he walked over to it and peeked his head into the crack from where the door stood slightly open. What he saw where to Gotsumon deep in conversation. 

"So then, the master said he'll be here soon?" one asked. 

"Yes and he said to make sure the humans and their Digimon are detained by the time he arrived. Especially the Wizardmon, he said something about wanting revenge on that one," the other replied. 

"Alright. We're already making plans for when they get done with their baths. "

"Good. The master said we'll get a big reward if we're successful."

"Hopefully it'll be some females."

"Yeah that would be *really* nice."

Tentomon pulled his head out of the doorway at that, not wanting to hear anymore and already having the most valuable information. He turned around to go warn the others, but unfortunately as he did he ran right into the stone fist coming towards his face.

The Gotsumon next to him, picked up the now unconscious Tentomon by the back of his neck and pushed the door to the hut open. The two inside turned to watch him walk in and unceremoniously dropped the bug Digimon on the floor. 

"He heard everything," the Gotsumon said. 

"Great! I told you we should have locked the door!" one of the conversing Gotsumon yelled towards the other. 

"Calm down. He just heard us and didn't get time to tell the others. So for now we'll keep him tied up here until we've trapped the rest of them and then we'll present them all to the master."

"You'd be lucky if it'll be that easy."

"Just shut up and get some rope."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca was unsure of how much time had passed since Wizardmon had cleaned her and the other girls' clothes. As soon as he had finished, he had mumbled something about going to see if the others would like him to clean their clothes. He had left quickly, but Rebecca had noticed that his cheeks were still red from embarrassment. Sighing as she stepped through the bush, she cursed the fact that she would probably end up lost as she looked for her Digimon.

While she was mumbling about her Digimon, Jon was walking through the village and mumbling something under his own breath as he was drying his hair out with a towel. They where each so caught up in their own problems that they failed to notice one another until they ran into each other. They stumbled around to maintain their balance and once that was taken care of, Jon looked up at the dark haired girl. 

"Sorry," he apologized.

"It's alright. I wasn't watching where I was going." She replied.

"Neither was I," he replied resuming to dry his hair. "You know it's times like this that I regret growing my hair this long. Seriously, how do you stand it?"

"It's easy. You simply wait for it to dry." Rebecca told Jon, a slight smirk graced her face briefly.

"That's really helpful."

"It was your choice to grow your hair long. Why are you complaining about how long it takes to dry? It's simple physics. Longer hair, means more mass that needs to dry."

Jon stared at her for a moment. "You were a lonely child, weren't you?

"I was an only child." Rebecca said as she stared back at him.

"Figured"

"Do you think it's a bad thing to be an only child? To be doted on by over-protective parents?" She asked, slightly annoyed by him.

"I guess not," he replied, lowering the towel. "Better than having to put up with an annoying little brother."

"I always wanted a little brother, or sister."

"Trust me, it's not all that great."

"Then trust me when I say being an only child is not all that great." Rebecca replied as she began to move around Jon so that she could continue to look for her Digimon partner.

"Grass is always greener I guess," he shrugged as he followed her. "So how's Wizardmon doing?"

Rebecca turned around quickly so she could face him, "You mean he didn't find you?"

"Well he did, but he just clean and dried my clothes and then left before I could say anything. Just wondering if you've been able to talk to him. He did look a little red so I was wondering if he was sick or something."

Rebecca's cheeks flushed a little before she replied, "He...walked in on us as we were bathing."

Jon stopped dead in his tracks at that statement and the thought of what the Digimon magician might have seen. 

"Lucky," he whispered.

The girl beside him glared at him. "He wasn't so lucky when Sam hit him with a rock."

Jon winced at that. "Yeah that wouldn't be. And I didn't mean that. I mean...I...uh...hehe."

"Men...you're all alike." Rebecca said before she stormed away from Jon.

"No wait! I really didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" he called out desperately as he followed behind her.

"Why should I wait for a pig like you?"

"Because I want to apologize."

"Why should I believe that? You've admitted you'd want to see the girls naked. You jerk." She said as she kept trying to get away from him.

"That was a typical male reaction," he explained as he continued to follow behind her. "I'm sure the others would have let that slip too. But unlike them I want to apologize for it because I realized I was wrong. I'm trying to be nice here!"

She turned and glared the boy, "From my experience, there is no such thing as NICE men."

Anything Jon would have said was stuck in his throat because of that statement. His entire posture changed as he rethought his position on this subject. 

"Ah," he finally said, walking up to her. "Well, I'm sorry you've had some bad experiences but contrary to your believe there ARE some nice guys out there. We just slip up from time to time."

"I have yet to meet a nice man. And you being sorry does not fix things."

"Then I guess I'll just have to try to be the one nice guy you do meet."

"You're not doing the greatest job." She replied as she turned to stalk away again.

"Look I-"

Jon was stopped again, but this time by a loud beeping coming from his pocket. He pulled out his Digivice and looked at the screen to see an arrow pointing to one of the huts near him and Rebecca. He looked at them just in time to see a small, hedgehog-like Digimon being thrown out of one. 

"What?! What I'd do?!" it shouted. 

"You tried to steal from me!" the Gotsumon, most likely the owner of the hut shouted, shouted. 

"Oh come on! It was on tiny bobble that you probably wouldn't have missed."

"It was a family heirloom! It worth a fortune!"

"Which is why I tried to steal it! I mean-no I didn't. I was just looking at it."

"Get out of here before I decide to make you a trophy on my wall!"

"Fine! Didn't like your stupid rock house anyway you stupid...rockhead!" 

As the door slammed shut, the obviously unwanted guest turned around and almost left when he felt a strange feeling in the base of his skull. He turned around and saw the strange long hair human looking at him. 

"What the hell are you staring at?!" he shouted. 

Jon looked at the irritated Digimon then down to his Digivice then back to the Digimon and then back to his Digivice again.

"No," he muttered. "No! No! No!"

"You found your Digimon partner." Rebecca stated from behind him.

"This can not be my partner!" he shouted, pointing to the Digimon in question.

"'Partner'? What are you talking about?" the confused Digimon asked. 

"Nothing! This doesn't concern you because it's obviously a mistake."

"It is not a mistake. You know it isn't." Rebecca told Jon.

"But he steals."

"And Wizardmon walked in on the girls when we were bathing."

"But that was an accident, this one did it on purpose!"

"Damn right," the hedgehog-like being boasted

"It does not matter. He is your partner. You know it because you felt the pull." Rebecca said calmly.

"Excuse me. Can one of you two humans please tell me, what the hell you're talking about?!"

Jon turned to the Digimon and gave him a fake smile.

"Well apparently, you're suppose to be my partner so we can go out to fight off the evil Digimon and save this world from corruption."

The Digimon simply stared back at him for a minute. 

"Nah screw that," he said and started to walk away.

"See, there ya go," Jon quipped, turning back to Rebecca.

"If you have doubts, perhaps you should talk with Angewomon. She seems to know which Digimon are our partners."

"You called?" a voice next to them asked, cause them both to jump in surprise. 

"Don't do that!!" Jon shouted as he waited for his heart rate to return to normal.

"Sorry," Angewomon replied, trying to hide a chuckle.

"You sound like Jennifer." Rebecca told Jon, then turning to Angewomon. "We think we found another partner Digimon...but he's not too co-operative."

Angewomon nodded as she took in the information then turned to were the Digimon in question was still standing and looking at them. She smiled and raised a hand, causing him to float over to them. 

"Whoa! Hey! What the hell's going on?!" he shouted. 

The angelic Digimon ignored him and gently placed him down in front of Jon. 

"He is indeed your partner. And his name is Quillmon," she stated.

"Don't tell them that!" Quillmon protested. 

"How can this be my partner?!" Jon asked.

"He just is. I'm sure it time you two will learn to work together."

"Not likely cause I don't plan on staying with you jerks. Pfft, saving the world! Why should I put my neck on the line for a bunch of Digimon I've never even met?" Quillmon asked, standing on his hind legs and crossing the others over his chest like arms.

"Because if you don't then Serpentmon's forces will completely conquer this world," Angewomon explained.

"So? If you know how to survive it won't matter. You just gotta get on their good side.

"See?!" Jon interjected. "He's willing to side with the enemy! There's no way he can be my partner!" 

"Yeah there's no way I can be his partner! Cause I don't partner up with stupid, large smelly humans."

"Smelly?!"

"Yeah smelly, you gotta problem with it?!"

"Yes and I have a problem with you!"

"Oh really? Well, come on then?!" Quillmon shouted and made a fighting gestured.

"And what are you going to do, bite my shins?" Jon retorted.

The Digimon shrugged. "Good place to start," he agreed and then sunk his teeth into the human's leg. 

Jon shouted and kicked his leg out until the rapid hedgehog leg go and landed a few feet away from them. He then grabbed his injured leg and hopped up and down as he tried to soothe away the pain.

"He bit me!" he cried out.

"Sit down Jon. If you keep bouncing it'll just hurt worse." Rebecca said as she tried to get the boy to stop hopping.

"Fine then just bring that thing over here I can run it through," he grunted glaring at Quillmon.

"Oh just try it human," Quillmon glared back.

"Why don't you just be quiet Quillmon." Rebecca said as she glared at the small Digimon, not realizing that her magic had decided to activate again.

"Why don't you come over here and make me!"

"You would not want me to. I kick HARD." Rebecca said as she tried to look at Jon's leg, wishing that the annoyance would simply go away.

"And I bite HARD! Just ask your mate there!"

"Yeah I already know that," Jon groaned as he looked at the wound. "Probably have rabies now."

"Hey I resent that!" Quillmon shouted then thought about it. "What the hell are rabies?"

"My WHAT?!" Rebecca yelled out. She then stalked over to Quillmon, grabbed the small Digimon by the scruff of the neck and shook him, "What do you mean? Answer me."

"What? You two aren't mates?" he asked, genually confused.

"What do you mean by that? Where I come from 'mates' can mean many different things."

"Boy you humans are dense," he muttered. "I meant that you're together for life, doing the nasty, having children, nagging him until he wants to die. All that crap that comes from having a mate."

Rebecca stared at the small Digimon, she was barely containing her anger. She wished she could get away from the disgusting bag of digital flesh she was holding, but she didn't think she had enough strength to throw Quillmon far enough away. It was then that she noticed the wind had picked up. Realizing that her magic had been released again, she hurled Quillmon as hard as she could. A gust of wind picked the small Digimon up and carried him to the creek, where the wind stopped and dropped the hedgehog like Digimon in the water. Seething in anger, Rebecca didn't notice how badly her body had began to shake.

"I can see this is going to cause some problems," Angewomon said, looking at the shaking girl. 

"No kidding," Jon added.

"Keep that....thing away from me Jon. I just might end up killing it." 

"I just might end up helping you."

"No, neither of you will kill him," Angewomon said in an authoritive voice. "As hard as it may be to accept, he is one of the chosen Digimon and therefore MUST stay alive and fight with us. As for his attitude...well...we'll deal with that as we go."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Quillmon asked, pulling himself out of the creek.

"NO!" the other three shouted as once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex was beyond cursing. He was beyond throwing rocks in hope of getting someone's attention. His voice had gone hoarse from yelling for Luxmon to come help him. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that his lips looked a bit blue when he stood still long enough for him to see his reflection. Alex was sure his body must be near freezing because he was shivering so hard.

This is how Jennifer found him when she came through the bush looking for Luxmon. Not realizing that she had stumbled on Alex's bathing spot. She stopped and grumbled about not being able to find her Digimon.

"Hey!" Alex yelled, his voice rough.

"AHH!" Jennifer yelled as she broken from her thoughts. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking that." Alex's hoarse voice replied.

"I'm looking for Luxmon. I didn't know you were still in the water....aren't you cold?"

"No, I'm fucking peachy. My lips are naturally blue."

"Oh, ok. I'll let you finish your bath then." Jennifer said as she started to walk away.

"You should be the fucking blonde. I'm freezing. Get me out of here!"

"Well if you're going to talk to me like that. I'll just leave you in there." 

"Then I'll die of pneumonia, you idiot!" Alex yelled hoarsely.

"And the world would rejoice! Would it kill you to be nice?" Jennifer yelled back.

"Yes, yes it would! Just get me out of here! I can't bend my knees, and everything's numb from my waist down."

"You don't have to yell." Jennifer said as she walked closer to the creek. "You aren't naked are you?"

"No. I won't care if I was. Just get over here!"

"I'm coming, just hold your horses."

"If I had a fuckin horse, I would have gotten out of here already." The boy complained.

"If you're going to keep talking like that I'll leave you in there. Maybe it'll cool off your temper." Jennifer said from the bank.

"Maybe I'll cool YOU off." Alex said as he sent a splash towards the girl.

Jennifer jumped back and away from the water. She then turned and started to walk away. Alex seeing her walking away yelled out for her to stop. She turned around and glared at the boy and stalked back so she was close enough for him to see her.

"Why should I help you? You're an obnoxious jerk! I was going to help you. All you had to do was shut-up till I got you out of the water. But obviously that's too much for you to do."

"Look I'm freezin' my nuts off here. Are you going to help or what?" The male digidestined asked.

"Fine. Don't try to pull me in, or I'll leave you here." The annoyed girl said as she grabbed the near-by tree and reached out to help Alex.

"Whatever." Alex said as he grabbed her hand and tried to pull himself up.

Jennifer almost let go when she felt how cold his hand was. She then strained and pulled the boy up slowly. His now water logged jeans making it difficult to get him out. His shaking at the cold wasn't helping either. After struggling for a good five minutes, Jennifer finally managed to help Alex get out of the water. Once out the boy curled up and started shaking trying to get warm. Jennifer huffed as she set her backpack down and began to rifle through it to find her extra blanket. When she found it, she pulled it out and put it over Alex. Rubbing his back, arms and legs through the blanket, she tried to warm him up.

"Why did you bathe with your jeans on?" Jennifer asked, hoping to get his mind off how cold he was.

"Couldn't get the fuckin' things off." Alex replied through chattering teeth.

"Why not?" 

"My knees swelled up. The damn things got stuck and I couldn't get them off. If I did, I wouldn't have been able to get them back on." He told her.

"I see. We'll have to see if Wizardmon can try to heal them. You can't keep using Luxmon as a taxi." She replied as she continued to try and warm the shivering boy up.

"That asshole can rot for all I care! I asked him to help me out and he ignored me! He cleaned my shirt and vest then took off."

"He was probably still embarrassed. He walked in on us girls when we were still in the water. He probably didn't want to cause any trouble." Jennifer explained.

"So...did he see anything?"

"I wouldn't know." She replied as she rubbed a little rougher on his back.

"Ow! That hurts!" Alex cried out.

"Oh sorry. Did you say something?"

"Yeah, did Wizardmon see your puppies? Did it get him hard?"

Jennifer replied by rubbing his back harder causing the fibers of the blanket to dig into his skin.

"OW!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After he had thoroughly dried himself and dressed, thanks in part to Wizardmon drying his clothes, Ray set off to find Sam about getting his tools, and consequently his vest and belt, back from her. He walked around blindly for a bit until asking one of the Gotsumon if they had seen her. In return to his question he received a rather snippy answer that she was "Over there somewhere". He hastily thanked them and then walked off in the direction they had pointed out, wondering what he had said to make them so upset. He shrugged it off as he continued his trek and soon enough found Sam kneeling before her bike, working away with something but he her body blocked his viewpoint as to what exactly she was doing. He was slightly surprised to see that she still didn't have her motorcycle leather on. He ignored it and walked over to her. 

"Hey," he said when he was standing over her. 

She inclined her head towards him for a second before turning back to her bike.

"Hey," she muttered in returned.

"Uh...you need any help?"

"Nah, I'm almost done here."

"Alright. So what's the damage?"

"Nothing major. There were some tiny cracks I had to patch up in a makeshift fashion, but it shouldn't cause me any problems. Hopefully I'll find the time and resources I need to really fix it."

"You sure it's going to be OK?"

"Should be. Trust me if anything starts to go wrong with this baby I'll know it."

"I hope so. Don't need anyone else getting hurt."

"Anyone else?" Sam stopped her work to think about the statement. "Oh right, Alex. You know I actually forgot that he was hurt."

"How could you? He's been complaining about it nonstop," Ray replied with a shake of his head. "I feel sorry for Jennifer."

Sam stopped her work and gave him a questioning look. 

"She had to pull him out of the creek and help him dry off," he explained. "And of course he complained the whole time.

The blonde snorted. "That's not surprising. But she had pull him out of the creek? What about..."

"He still had his pants on. Which is a lot more than I had when you came sneaking up on me."

"I didn't sneak up on you!" she shouted standing up for the first time to stare in his eyes. 

"Well you could have told me you were there sooner before I got out of the water!"

"How was I suppose to know you're standing up?!"

"Look I-" Ray held up his hands as a gesture to stop. "Look this isn't getting us anywhere right now. Are you done using my tools?"

"Actually yes," Sam replied, placing the one she had been holding in one of the pockets on the belt and then handing him it and his vest. 

"Thank you," he replied as he took them and slipped them on. "Now I'm going to get the others together so when you finish up here find the rest of us. We'll probably be in the middle of the village."

"Alright," she nodded. 

He nodded in return and turned to leave but then stopped after taking only a few steps.

"Oh by the way, have you seen Tentomon? I was looking for him while trying to find you and didn't see him anywhere."

"Probably just walking around. It is a big village after all."

"Hope that's all," Ray said, mostly to himself.

"Why's that?" Sam asked, curious as to the concern in his voice.

"I dunno. I just have this feeling that something's not right."

"You're probably just being paranoid. Not surprising after everything we've just been through."

"Yeah. And maybe being the leader is already starting to get to me."

"Hey," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We all trust you to be a good leader. And if you're concerned already that just shows you've got what it takes."

"I hope you're right," he replied, sounding less convinced. 

"Of course I am. I'm always right."

"Gee with that kind of attitude maybe you should be the leader."

"Nah, the only time I want to be a leader is in traffic." 

Ray let out a soft chuckled then gave her a quick goodbye before heading out to round up the others. 

"Oh hey Ray," she called out to him. 

"Yeah?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to her. 

"You have a really cute butt."

He replied to that statement with a few mumbled words and a bright red blush forming on his cheeks. He stumbled off again, trying to remember just what he was going to do again. Unfortunately in his daze he failed to see the broad smile on Sam's face as she went about rechecking the repairs on her bike. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carrying Wizardmon, Luxmon walked back into the village. The larger Digimon was hoping to find the smaller's partner. The Gotsumon who seemed helpful earlier now seemed a little on edge bordering on rude. Luxmon decided that dealing with several small, rock-like Alex's was not something he enjoyed. It was as he was about to ask another Gotsumon for help that he saw Angewomon. Walking towards the angelic Digimon, Luxmon saw Rebecca, Jon and a short distance away, a soaking wet Digimon.

Once seeing his partner, Wizardmon tried to get out of Luxmon's grasp, but the little Digimon's struggles were futile due to the fact that he had nearly exhausted himself again. Luxmon's strong arms carefully held the wizard as he tried to escape. Once Wizardmon had realized that he was going nowhere, Luxmon walked closer to the group. He was trying to see if he could recognize the new Digimon, however the identity of the Digimon was unknown to him. Luxmon was almost beside Angewomon when he realized that Rebecca was shaking. As he had not been near enough to hear the conversation that preceded this, he had no idea why the girl was quaking. Thinking that perhaps it would be better to return later, Luxmon tried to back away only to be noticed by the angel Digimon.

"I think it would best if you stayed," she advised him. "After this little...spat is over we're going to regroup with the others."

"Perhaps. I did not want to cause Rebecca concern however. Wizardmon used up too much of his energy again." Luxmon explained to her.

"And I am fine. I CAN walk. I am merely tired." Wizardmon groused from his place in the larger Digimon's arms.

"Perhaps it should be best for you to set him down. After all, you will need your strength for when you have to carry Alex again."

"Yes, I see what you mean. That human loudmouth is as heavy as the wizard." Luxmon said as he set Wizardmon down carefully.

"Thank you." Wizardmon said as he stood beside the two other Digimon.

Rebecca turned to get away from both Jon and his partner Digimon, as she turned she saw Wizardmon and Luxmon standing beside Angewomon. Walking over to them, ignoring Quillmon, the girl still shook a little but it was barely visible now. "Wizardmon. Are you ok? You look tired."

"I will be alright Rebecca." The wizard replied to her question.

"That's good to know. You can help keep that....thing away." Rebecca said as she pointed towards Quillmon.

"Like I'd want to be near an ugly human female like you," the Digimon retorted.

"Like you'd know what a beautiful human female looks like." Rebecca replied, trying to put her emotionless mask back in place.

"I know it wouldn't be you."

Quillmon then let out a shout of pain as Jon conked him on the head with the end of his sword.

"What was that for?!" he shouted. 

"For being an asshole," Jon replied. 

"Who is this annoying Digimon?" Luxmon asked Angewomon.

"Quillmon, my partner. Unfortunately," Jon muttered.

"For me," Quillmon added. 

"Shut up."

"Make me!"

"You really want me to?"

"That is something I would love to see." Rebecca commented.

"So would I..." Jon said threateningly. 

"Please, let us just go find the others," Angewomon spoke up, trying to break up another fight.

"Fine." Rebecca said as she walked away from the group, Wizardmon trying to keep up with her long strides.

"I take it they did not get along." Luxmon commented to the angel Digimon.

"Not at all," she replied with a sigh. "It's making things very difficult."

"I can see that. What happened to cause Rebecca's distress?"

"He has a big mouth," Jon answered him, pointing down to Quillmon. 

"No, I just tell the truth," the Digimon defended himself. 

"Well there is such a thing as withholding that truth so you don't hurt people's feelings."

"Not in my world."

"Must be a pretty small world."

"Hey!"

"Perhaps you should be silent. It would be best for all. We will not be forced to silence you." Luxmon growled at the small Digimon.

"Ooooh, I'm scared! Big old, tentacle headed Digimon is gonna hurt me!"

Picking Quillmon up, Luxmon raised the little Digimon up until he could look him in the eye. "I will if I must. And I assure you it will NOT be pleasant, or something to write home about."

"Hey come on, I was just kidding around," Quillmon replied then chuckled nervously. 

"Do whatever you want to him. Not gonna hurt me any," Jon remarked casually.

"Some help you are."

"You brought it on yourself."

"See that you keep your 'kidding' to yourself." The large Digimon said as he dropped Quillmon.

Again, Quillmon let out a sound of pain as he fell rather unceremoniously on his behind. He straightened himself up and then followed by behind the small group, making sure to keep out of Luxmon's reach. 

While Quillmon had distanced himself from the group, Jon walked over to Rebecca so he could more easily talk to the dark skinned girl. 

"Sorry about what he said," he apologized for his Digimon.

"Why are you sorry? He isn't. So far everyone's Digimon has fit their personality. So you must really be like him." Rebecca replied, trying to get rid of the other Digidestined.

"Oh don't insult me! Why do you think I was so adamant about NOT having him as my partner?"

"Perhaps you do not want to be faced with the truth."

"That's not it at all! I'm nothing like him!"

"That has yet to be seen."

"Well who are you to judge anyone? You've barely said anything to the rest of us and when you do it's usually so emotionless it's hard to tell what you think."

"I judge from what I see. And it is far better to not be an open book for anyone who knows how to read can manipulate you."

"So judge a book by its cover, that's a great way to go through life."

"Considering how it usually proves to be the same as the text, it suits me fine." Rebecca argued back, getting annoyed at Jon. He had said she judged people, but he was doing the same thing.

"Well that's going to come back and haunt you someday. And probably soon," he said, then looked directly into her eyes. "Look, we're going to have to work as a team which means eventually you're going to have to trust someone, most likely with your life."

"We shall see whose life needs to be entrusted."

"I guess we will."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After nearly half an hour, the group finally reassembled in the center of the Gotsumon village. They gathered around an old stone picnic table and after Quillmon was introduced to everyone else, they began to plan their next move. 

Unfortunately, the one who needed to be listening the most, their newly appointed leader Ray, was too busy trying to think of where Tentomon might have gone too. He discreetly looked around to see if he could spot the red, bug type Digimon among all the dark gray stone Gotsumon, but he still had no luck. It was like Tentomon had simply disappeared and it made that bad feeling he had early grow even stronger. Something really wasn't right here. Were the supposedly friendly Gotsumon just setting them up for a trap? Or was it simply that one of the other Digimon that had attacked them early had come back and kidnapped him? Neither of them were a very good option but if they first one was true then...

"Hey Ray!" Sam shouted in his ear, causing him to jump slightly.

"What?!" he shouted back, still surprised. 

"You weren't paying attention, were you?"

"Uh...well...no," he sighed, lowering his head. He raised it after a second to look at the others. "Sorry guys I'm just worried about Tentomon."

"Where is bug-boy anyway?" Alex asked.

"That's just it, I don't know," Ray admitted.

"You lost your Digimon....That's just great." Alex retorted.

"Hey at least I have a partner!"

"I don't see him anywhere. Maybe he decided to take a hike."

"With this bunch of jerkwads around I'm not surprised," Quillmon spoke up. "No self-respecting Digimon would be caught dead with you humans."

"So I guess you don't respect yourself then," Jon retorted. 

Quillmon's eyes widened at that. "No! I meant....I just...shut up!"

"Why do we have to put up with two Alex's?" Jennifer muttered to Jon.

"Because someone up there hates us. Especially me," he replied.

"Figures. We can't ditch him can we?"

"No. Believe me I already asked."

"Damn. I guess we'll just have to put up with the two of them. I wish I had brought more aspirin now." Jennifer joked quietly.

"You and me both. At least you don't have to have him as your partner," Jon muttered and laid his hand on the table.

"If I did, I'd probably end up killing him." Jennifer replied as she patted Jon's hand in sympathy.

"OK, OK, Jon's partner sucks can we please get back to what we're going to do next?" Sam interrupted.

"Obviously we need to find Tentomon. Ray needs him if they are going to fight." Rebecca said calmly.

"Right. So we should all go looking for him," Ray said then was about to stand up when a group of Gotsumon walked up to them.

"Before you exert yourself further maybe you all should have a drink," the lead one offered. "You wouldn't want to dehydrate yourselves, now would you?"

"I must admit, I am thirsty." Luxmon told the group.

"Yeah it would be nice to have some water I didn't just bath in," Jon added.

"Now that you mention it...I'm kinda thirsty too." Jennifer grinned.

"Hey I'll take anything that's free," Quillmon spoke up.

"I bet you would," Jon muttered.

Rebecca nodded her agreement, "Something to drink would be welcome."

Angewomon simply nodded in agreement. 

While the others accepted the offered water, Ray initially declined. He wasn't trying to be rude but that uneasy feeling continued to gnaw at the back of his mind. That combined with the need to find Tentomon made it hard for him to sit back and relax. 

"Uh...look I appreciate the offer and all, but I think I'll walk around a bit. I need to find my partner," he explained. 

"And having some water in your system will only help you," Sam advised. 

"I don't have time for this."

"So you'd rather just walk around with a parched mouth? None of us have had any water for about two days now. That's not healthy at all."

"I'll be fine. It'll just be for a little while." 

"Fine! Go off and get yourself killed for all I care."

"Maybe I will."

Jennifer, realizing that Ray would most likely end up getting himself hurt if he left the group now, stood up and put a hand on Ray's shoulder, "Sorry Boss-man, but I can't let that happen. We ALL need the water."

"But I-" Ray started to protest.

"But nothing. Sit," Sam replied, pulling him back down into his chair.

Ray let out a grunt of protest but caved in and decided to at least try some of the water. Besides if he didn't, Sam and Jennifer might hurt him.

With the decision made, the lead Gotsumon gestured for another one to bring forth a loaded tray with hollowed out stones they used for cups. Once they were all passed out he one carrying the tray stepped back from the table, followed quickly be his brethren. They passed an unseen devious smile between themselves as the humans and their Digimon began to take long sips from the cups.

"This water tastes different...what did you put in it?" Wizardmon asked the lead Gotsumon.

"Just a few special ingredients we have," one of the Gotsumon spoke up.

"Oh? What kind of 'special' ingredients? And when do they kick in?" Quillmon asked, taking another sip.

"Oh it should kick in really soon. You should feel a lot better." Another Gotsumon replied.

"Wait? Just what are you-?" Ray started to ask a bout of light-headness suddenly overcame him.

He tried to continue his sentence but the world disappeared into a fog of swirling colors. His whole body seemed both heavy and distance at the same time. He barely felt his mouth move as he tried to form coherent word and slurred something out before his head plopped down on the stone table.

"Ray! Hey what did you....do?" Jennifer asked, standing up quickly before she started to sway. She seemed to move in slow motion as she collapsed onto her chair.

The others quickly followed this pattern and within a minute they were all laying hunched over the table. The Gotsumon laughed at their own handy work before they began setting up their captives to present to their master.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca groaned at the pounding in her head as she awoke. When she tried to wipe the fog away from her eyes, she realized that she was tied up and could hardly move her arms or legs. Great, tied up again, she thought as she tried to wiggle the ropes around in hope of loosening them. It was only when her wrists were getting raw that she realized that the ropes were tied too securely.

"At least Jennifer's not awake yet." Rebecca murmured to herself.

She heard another groan next to her and looked over to see Sam walking up and pulling at her ropes as well.

"Oh this is just great," she muttered. "This is really starting to become a bad habit with us."

"I know. At least Jennifer isn't awake yet." Rebecca replied in a quiet voice.

"HEY! Get these damn things off ME!" Alex yelled as he woke up.

"Eh? What the hell? Did I hook up with some really freaky girl last night?" Quillmon muttered as he came too as well. 

"Damn. I was hoping that was just a bad dream," Jon groaned.

Luxmon and Wizardmon woke silently. They looked at each other and groaned at the situation they were in. Luxmon angry with himself for getting caught again. The wizard was disappointed in himself for getting caught by such a simple trick.

"What happened?" Jennifer asked still slightly dazed by the drugs coursing through her body.

"We were captured. *Again*," Sam retorted. 

"I told you something didn't feel right here," Ray said after had woken up. 

"Is this really the time to discuss this?"

"Where is Angewomon?" Rebecca asked as she took a total of those who were awake already. "Or Wizardmon and Luxmon."

"The wizard and I are awake." Luxmon responded for himself and the smaller Digimon.

"Over here," a new voice spoke up. 

Everyone looked as best they could to see Tentomon tied up next to a still unconscious Angewomon. 

"Hey buddy, there you are!" Ray spoke up. 

"Yes, I was detained by the Gotsumon. I over heard them planning...well this."

"Nice of ya ta tell us, BEFORE this happened bugboy." Alex yelled from where he was, his knees hurting from the ropes tied around them.

"I was going to but they blindsided me."

"Great going Buggy."

"Hey leave him alone! I'm sure he tried his best!" Ray defended his partner.

"Well obviously it wasn't good enough, geek-boy." Alex retorted.

"Enough!" another voice cried out, revealing to them the group of Gotsumon standing nearby. "Damn you humans are annoying! You should be thankful we don't just kill you right here."

"Untie me and say that ya walkin' gravel pile!" Alex yelled at the Gotsumon.

"No. We're saving you for our master."

"Damnit! At least loosen the ropes on my knees. Yeah little rock jerks, they'll kill me before this master of yours shows up."

"Good. That'll probably be less painful than what our master has in store for you?"

"Fuck you you little turds." Alex yelled before he managed to turn his body away from the Gotsumon.

"This is going to be bad." Jennifer muttered to Jon beside her.

"Very bad. If I could just..." Jon trailed off as he struggled against his bonds to try and reach his sword.

"What are you trying to do?" Jennifer asked quietly, hoping to avoid being noticed by the Gotsumon.

"They didn't take my sword away. If could just get unsheathe it I could cut our ropes."

"Where is it? Maybe I can reach it." Jennifer whispered to him.

"On my belt, under my coat," he replied, keeping an eye on his captures to make sure they weren't paying attention to them.

"Alright." Jennifer said as she rolled over so that her back was to Jon's. She then began searching for the handle to Jon's sword, in hopes of getting free from the ropes. After a few attempts to get the sword, she managed to get one of her hands on the handle. The only problem now...would be to draw the sword but not hurt Jon at the same time. Jennifer hesitated, trying to think of a solution to the new problem.

"Hey! What are you two doing?!" one of the guarding Gotsumon asked, walking over to them. 

"Shit! Quick, think of something," Jon whispered.

"Play along." Jennifer whispered back and she let go of the sword handle and quickly found Jon's hands. Grasping them as tightly as she could, she lowered her head to her chest and made it look as though she was crying.

A questioning look crossed Jon's face for just a second before he realized what she was doing. 

"I'm just trying to comfort her. She's very emotional and doesn't do well in these situations," he "explained". 

"So instead of just being weak physically you humans are weak emotionally as well. Oh yeah, I REAAAALLLY have faith in YOU saving this world," Quillmon retorted. 

"Would you shut up just this once?" His partner returned.

"I don't want to die here." Jennifer wailed convincingly, "I want to go home and get married and have a family."

She continued her act as long as she could before she 'broke down' to sobbing again. Her head curled to her chest, and her hair covering most of her face from the Gotsumon.

"Can't someone make her shut up?!" Another of the Gotsumon yelled, holding his stony ears. "This is annoying!"

Jennifer sobbed then let out another wail. And once she had made sure the Gotsumon were distracted, she let go of Jon's hands and grabbed the sword's handle again. Carefully pulling it out from its scabbard.

"Be VERY careful with that," Jon advised, suddenly regretting where he placed the sharp weapon

All Jennifer could do was nod as she was still wailing to keep the Gotsumon distracted. Slowly, she moved the sword handle up until her fingers could feel the blade. Stretching her wrists as far as she could she carefully grabbed the sword and began using it like a saw to cut through the ropes. She had to work slow to avoid cutting herself, but at the same time she realized that she had to work as quickly as she could, her wailing wouldn't distract the Gotsumon forever.

"Hey, I think she's up to something," a Gotsumon said to another. 

"Looks like it," another replied. 

"Maybe we should go check it out."

They two nodded to each another and started to walk over to the fidgeting girl, but were stopped short when Sam tilted her body upwards and practically fell down on one of them. 

"Hey! Get back over there you stupid girl!" the one still standing yelled and kicked her in the stomach. 

At the moment, Sam regretted leaving her leather suit off because it would have provided more protection from the kick, but she pushed back the pain as the Digimon continued his assault. As long as they focused on her, then they wouldn't notice Jennifer's actions.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!" Ray cried out. 

"You want some too?!" The Gotsumon closest to him threatened.

I hate it when I'm right, Jennifer thought as she continued to saw through the tough rope on her wrists. It wasn't until her wrists started spreading farther apart that she realized that she had cut the rope. Getting her hands free of the rope, she turned rolled over carefully and brought her hands around so that she could use the sword to free Jon's hands. She'd worry about the ropes on her knees and feet after she got the sword's true wielder free.

Jon struggled against the ropes as he felt them losing their grip. He just need a little more slack and he'd be able to get free. He stared at the rocky Digimon staring down at the now huddled over Sam, laughing at their handy work. When the ropes were finally lose enough, he slipped his wrists out, drew his sword out the rest of the way, quickly cut the bonds holding his ankles and then sprang to his feet. He cut down the two standing nearest him, surprised that his sword actually cut through stone and wasn't damaged, then quickly turned to Jennifer and sliced the rest of her ropes.

"Go! Free the others!" he ordered

"Right!" Jennifer said as she raced over to where Ray was. Kneeling down she began to fight with the knots in the rope.

"Worry about me later, free Luxmon right now to help out Jon," he requested.

"But if I get you free, you can fuse with Tentomon and fight." Jennifer replied as she continued to struggle with Ray's ropes.

"But I can't do that with them on my back," he nodded towards the approaching Gotsumon.

Jennifer struggled with indecision for a moment. Ray was the leader, and so he should be the first one freed, but he was telling her to free her Digimon instead. Luxmon was strong and a good fighter, but would he and Jon be enough to keep the Gotsumon away? Coming to a decision, Jennifer looked down at Ray, "Alright, I'll go. But I'm coming right back here when I get Luxmon freed."

"Alright. I'll be here. Hopefully."

"Right...." Jennifer said as she moved over to where Luxmon lay beside Wizardmon. Going to work as quickly as she could on the knots, she tried to ignore the voice in her hear berating her for leaving Ray at the Gotsumon's mercy, or lack there of.

"You did what was necessary. My strength will hold a good number of the Gotsumon off while you can free the others." Luxmon told Jennifer, as if sensing her unease.

"Well I still feel lousy about leaving him there." Jennifer said as she managed to loosen on of the knots. "These stupid knots are going to take forever to loosen."

"You are doing all you can do." Luxmon replied.

"Well it feels like I should be doing more."

"Not even Angewomon can be in two places at once." Wizardmon counseled the girl.

"Maybe not. But I just wish I could do something more." Jennifer replied as she pulled on the ropes holding Luxmon. A grunt escaped her as she fell back and landed on her backside. She looked down and saw that she was holding a piece of rope in her hand. She quickly looked to Luxmon's wrists and saw that the ropes had snapped and his arms were now free. 

"How'd I do that?" She asked quietly, confused as to what happened.

"There is little time to think Jennifer. Snap the other two ropes so that I might fight while you rescue the others." Luxmon yelled at her, pulling her out of her thoughts. 

Jennifer quickly set to work of breaking the other ropes. She tried grabbing a handful at first, but the ropes were too strong. So she snapped one section of the rope and let Luxmon deal with unwinding it from around his knees as she worked on the ropes holding his feet. As soon as the rope had snapped, Jennifer was up and running back towards Ray.

By this time, Jon had his hands full with keeping the ever-growing horde of Gotsumon at bay. It seemed that every time he took one down, two more would takes it place. He finally fell when one of them jumped him from him behind and forced him to the ground. The rest of them moved in and began to punch and kick him. Luxmon rushed over towards Jon, in hope of helping the boy. The Digimon was stopped by several Gotsumon intent on beating the resistance out of him.

It was as he attempted to battle through the smaller Digimon that Luxmon heard it. A loud rumbling coming through the trees. As the rumbling got louder, the ground began to shake. He didn't even realize what was causing the noise until a loud booming voice called out.

"Leave the humans for me. They're MINE!"

"Oh what NOW?!" Sam cried out.

"Now I kill you humans!" Stegomon growled to the group.

Ray's eyes widened when he saw the dinosaur Digimon. He recognized him as part of the group that had attacked them. The Gotsumon did keep mentioning "the master", maybe this is who they meant. And that meant...

"The Gotsumon were in league with those creeps along!" he concluded out loud.

"No! Really?!" Sam replied with heavy sarcasm. 

Ray ignored the remark and focused instead on Jennifer.

"How are you coming with the ropes?" he asked with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"On the...last one for you." Jennifer replied as the rope snapped in her hand. She got up quickly, letting Ray worry about getting out of the broken ropes, and went to were Tentomon was laying and quickly set to work getting the bug Digimon free.

Once he freed himself, Ray stood up and finally took in the situation around him. The Gotsumon were still keeping Luxmon and Jon busy and were starting to advance on him and Stegomon was glaring down at him. He had never felt so helpless in his life. He wasn't a fighter on his own and even if he was he didn't have anything that could hold off any of them. He had to get to Tentomon and free them, then they could merge into TenchoTentomon and hopefully fight some of these creeps off. The only problem was GETTING to him. 

Jennifer set herself to work getting Tentomon free as soon as she had gotten over to him. It hadn't been easy with the Gotsumon trying to block her way, but she had made it. The problem she was finding now was how to snap the ropes on Tentomon's arms, without hurting the bug. His arms were so small and the rope was tried quite tightly.

To her left, Ray pushed aside as many of the ravenous Gotsumon as he could, trying to close the gap between himself and the girl trying to free his partner. As he ran, one of the Gotsumon appeared in front of him and acting purely on instinct, Ray jumped over the stony creature and launched himself over to where Jennifer was still working on Tentomon's ropes. Unfortunately, he had put a little too much power into his leap and quickly realized he was going to crash right into her.

"Incoming!" He shouted in a panic.

Jennifer looked up at Ray's shout and then quickly pushed herself back to avoid getting hit by the flying boy. Unfortunately this action caused him to land face down in the dirt. He groaned as he picked his head up and looked at her.

"Just...came to help," he muttered

"Then start on the ropes on his legs." Jennifer said as she went back to trying to get Tentomon's arms free.

"Right," he said as he shook his head to clear the cobwebs. 

With the two of them working together they were able to free Tentomon in only a couple of minutes. When that task was accomplished, Ray instructed Jennifer to free the others and then turned to his partner. 

"You ready?" he asked. 

"I think yes," Tentomon replied, flying up to boy's eye level. 

Ray nodded and then pulled out his Digivice. 

"Then let's do this. Fusion evolution!" he shouted.

The now familiar light engulfed the two and within seconds the merged warrior known as TechnoTentomon stood in their place. He glanced around at the suddenly frighten Gotsumon and smirked as they backed up. 

"So now who wants a piece?" he offered.

"I do." Stegomon's loud voice came from behind the group of Gotsumon.

"Well then bring it on!" TenchoTentomon challenge, taking a fighting stance.

"Gladly!" The dinosaur yelled as he charged towards the fused fighter.

The other fighter watched as the large reptile Digimon approached him. He narrowed his eyes behind his bug eye like goggles and planted his feet firmly on the ground. For his plan to work he had to wait for just the right moment. He steadied his nerves as the lumbering Digimon drew closer and closer until finally he was only a few sort feet away. That's when TechnoTentomon struck. The two insectoid arms on his backpack flung over his shoulders and charged up.

"Static Shock!" he shouted as he unleashed the deadly blasts of electricity. 

His eyes widened in shock, however, when he noticed that his attack was having no effect whatsoever on his opponent. Stegomon took advantage of TechnoTentomon's shock and finished his charge. Ramming into the human/bug fusion, the dinosaur used his strength to throw the other fighter back. The fused warrior flew through the air, and many trees, before finally hitting the ground and sliding to a halt. He groaned and slowly picked himself up. 

"Alright computer, give me the good stuff," he muttered as he flipped open the small computer on his forearm, but the answers were less than satisfying. "What do you mean 'No information available'?! Dammit. Now what am I suppose to do?"

"How about fight me." The dinosaur Digimon said as he plowed his way through the trees to where TechnoTentomon was.

Without another word, the human/bug merger fired up his jet back and took to the air. He then cut the jetpack engines and fell back down towards Stegomon. He buried the heel of his foot in the Digimon's head, dizzying him for a moment then wrapped his arms around the outstretched neck and then...tried to think of what else he could do.

While TechnoTentomon fought with Stegomon, Jennifer did her best to free the others. She had only managed to free Sam since the battle had begun, thanks to the Gotsumon interfering.

"I wish these annoying rock jerks would go away." Jennifer said as she tried to free Rebecca.

"No kidding," Sam replied as she tried to fight one off. 

"Damn, they tied these rope tight." Jennifer commented as she struggled to snap the ropes on Rebecca's arms.

"I know. They have been digging into my wrists since I woke up." Rebecca commented.

While the girls struggled with the Gotsumon and freeing the rest of the group, TechnoTentomon continued on with his own fight. He had resolved to keep punching Stegomon in the head but they had little to no effect on him.

"Damn! What's this hide for yours made of?!" he cried out in exasperation.

"Give it up kid. You'll never beat me. I'm too tough for you." Stegomon grunted as he threw his head to the side, almost knocking the fused warrior down.

TechnoTentomon hung on for dear life as the angered Digimon in his grasp thrashed violently. 

*I really should have thought out this plan better,* he thought ruefully.

Giving one final thrust of his head, Stegomon broke free from TechnoTentomon's grasp and whipped his spiked tail around to hit the slightly dazed Digimon. The Digimon in question flew limply through the air and once again landed harshly on the ground, this time near where the rest of the group was still fighting off the irate Gotsumon. He groaned and tried to stand up but he was still too out of his to keep his balance and fell back down.

"Damn idiot can't even fight!" Alex griped from where he was propped up against a tree.

"Shut UP Alex!" Jennifer replied as she broke the last ropes that bound Angewomon.

"Yeah, I don't see you doing much!" Jon added, from where he was holding an injured rib and still trying to fed off the stony horde with his sword

"Like I can even STAND! I've got no feeling in either leg freak-boy!" Alex yelled at Jon.

"Just shut up already Alex! Before I knock you out!" Jennifer said as she rushed past him and towards the group Gotsumon. She had finally gotten everyone free to fight.

"So now that we're all free what are we suppose to do? If that thing can beat TechnoTentomon the rest of us don't stand much of a chance," Sam cautioned

"Not unless someone else can figure out how to Digivolve." Rebecca stated, wondering if she would be the next one to evolve like Ray had.

"Damnit! I hate being useless! There's gotta be SOMETHING I can do!" Jennifer yelled out, her frustration and rage fueling her swings at the Gotsumon.

While she was trying to vent her frustration out on the small rock Digimon, Jennifer didn't see her Digivice's screen glow bright. It wasn't until she was encompassed in the light that Jennifer realized that something was happening. Staring into the brightness, she saw the outline of Luxmon. Just looking at his outline seemed to increase the connection between him and her. It was if they could predict what the other would do next.

*What....what's going on?* Jennifer thought.

*We are digivolving to help the others.* Luxmon thought back

*Will we be able to defeat him?*

*I do not know Jennifer. But we shall fight bravely.*

*Alright. Let's do it.*

Their bodies began to merge and fuse together, creating a new Digimon in blinding light. 

"Hey, whoa, what the hell's going on?" Quillmon asked, shielding his eyes from the light.

"They're merging together. Apparently we can all do that as some point," Jon explained. 

"So at one point I'm going to fuse with you? Oh that's just great!"

"And you didn't notice this when Ray and Tentomon Digivolved together?"

"No, I wasn't really paying attention."

The light then shattered around the new Digimon and standing in place of the Jennifer was an female warrior. Over six feet tall, she stood dressed in ragged loincloth and bra. Round armor plates sat on her shoulders while a quiver of arrows and a sword hung on her back. She held a small shield on her left forearm and a bow in her left hand. A winged helmet protected her head but left her face open. Her cheeks were striped with green and brown vertical stripes that started above the eyes and ended at her chin. Her now long brown hair flowed from the bottom of the helmet in several tiny braids. The sandals that graced her feet laced up her shins, seeming to hold pieces of leather to her lower legs. There were also small armor plates protecting her knees.

Her stance told anyone who looked at her that she meant business, but it was when she opened her eyes that grabbed everyone's attention. Her pupils were almost solid black, and seemed to see into a person's or Digimon's very soul. The warrior glared at the Gotsumon.

"Well...uh...get her!" one of the Gotsumon shouted. 

"Uh...hey didn't Stegomon say he wanted to take care of the humans?" another one quickly spoke up.

"Yeah!" one more agreed. "So...we shouldn't try to make him mad by taking away his challenge."

"Now...she could help me any day. Especially dressed like that." Alex said as he tilted his head sideways as he looked at the new Digimon.

"Of course YOU would notice that," Sam scolded him.

"Well," Jon started looking the new arrival up and down, "he does have a point."

"You too?!" 

He shrugged an apology. "Sorry, can't help it."

"I'm surrounded by pervs."

The female warrior, ignored their comments and drew an arrow from her quiver. Drawing it in her bow, she sighted along the shaft of the arrow. She aimed and let her arrow fly. Mere seconds later a cry could be heard from the trees, a cry that sounded very much like Stegomon. Judging that she had time to let her guard down, the warrior walked over to where TechnoTentomon lay and extended her arm to help the other fusion warrior to his feet.

By now, the bug/human hybrid had finally regained enough strength to begin to pull himself up. He noticed the hand in front of his face and took the offering. Once he was on his feet he looked the newest Digivovled warrior over and then looked back at the group to see how was missing.

"Jennifer and Luxmon?" he asked, turning back to the female.

"Amazonmon." The warrior replied.

"Well it defiantly fits. So where's Stegomon?"

"In there, and in pain." Amazonmon said, indicating the near-by trees.

"What?!" TechnoTentomon shouted, his eyes nearly breaking his goggles as they threatened to bug out of his skull. "How did you do that?!"

"My arrows are stronger than his flesh. And I think I hit him in the softer areas of his neck." The female fusion told her friend.

"Softer spots?" the other replied, lifting his forearm computer to his face. "This thing said there was no info on him."

"A hunter can always spot the softest portions of skin on any animal. Technology can't quite master that, yet. No offense TechnoTentomon, but I don't think your computer can know everything."

"Guess so," he sighed, lowering his arm. "So anyway, shouldn't we go out and find him?"

"Why waste the energy? He is coming to us." The Amazon warrior said as she took another arrow from her quiver and drew it in her bow. "He will come out of the trees in front of us."

"You sure?"

TechnoTentomon had barely finished his question when the dinosaur Digimon rushed out of the trees straight at him. An arrow lodged in the right side of his neck. 

"Yes, I'm sure." Amazonmon told the other fusion warrior, a bit of humor in her voice.

"Uh...guess so. So then, how do you want to do this?"

"Quickly." She said as she fired her drawn arrow at Stegomon's throat, lodging it in the left side.

A new roar of rage came from the dinosaur and he tried to attack Amazonmon, only to have his charge be met by her shield and strength.

TechnoTentomon watched the two struggle chided himself for not being able to help. He was suppose to the leader and yet here he was just standing around and letting his teammate do all the fighting. But he had already tried to stop Stegomon once and failed...miserable. What else could he-

"Wait a minute," whispered to himself as an idea began to form. "Hey Amazonmon, think you can hold him off for a bit longer?"

"Easily."

"Good. I got an idea, but you're going to have to move when I tell you to."

"That should not be a problem." Amazonmon replied.

TechnoTentomon nodded and then readied himself for his plan. His earlier electrical attacks had been too unfocused and board and that's how the dinosaur's tough hide had been able to absorb his attacks. But if he focused them on just biggest of the metal plates sticking out of Stegomon's back then maybe it could work. 

*Alright, I'm going doing to get one shot at this so I better make it count,* he mentally prepared himself. 

He flipped up his electrodes and then flew towards the large Digimon. He slammed into him and did very little to actually hurt them then quickly pressed the ends of his weapons on the largest plate he could find. 

"Alright, move!" he ordered Amazonmon.

The female warrior nodded her head curtly and quickly jumped out of the way. Leaving the two other Digimon to fight. With her out of range, TenchoTentomon immediately shot massive volts of electricity through the dinosaur. As he had guessed, the focused attack on the metal plate caused the electricity to travel down into Stegomon's body. He howled and pain and thrashed about, trying to shake lose the cause of his discomfort. Amazonmon watched the thrashing dinosaur closely, she drew her sword and held it at the ready, waiting for her moment to strike. She waited until Stegomon was finally able to throw the Bug warrior off. Rushing in as the dinosaur Digimon reared, she thrust her sword into the soft underbelly of the beast. The Amazon warrior barely had time to remove her sword before Stegomon began to pixilate and his data evaporated into the air.

"It's done." Amazonmon said as she sheathed her sword and turned to help TechnoTentomon to his feet again.

She took a single step forward before a blast of blue energy caused the ground to erupt in front of her, knocking her back. She and the others all looked skyward to find the source of the attack and to their horror saw a pale female Digimon in a dark blue dress and hair staring down at them with a confident smirk on her face. 

"Stegomon always was a big lummox, but he did make for a good opening act. Now it's time for the main event," she stated gleefully.

"Bring it on." The Amazon replied, drawing an arrow.

"Hey, which one is this again?" TenchoTentomon asked the other fused warrior. 

"KuroiHimon," the floating Digimon answered. "And at the risk of sound cliche, it'll be the last name any of you ever hear."

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Now, here's the reminder blurb.

PLEASE REVIEW

We'll even take flames. We need a good laugh.

PLEASE,Please,please,please? Won't SOMEBODY review?


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